By choosing to work with social enterprises, Cleanaway will be contributing to job creation, sustainable employment and social impact for areas of our community that need it most.
By choosing to work with social enterprises, Cleanaway will be contributing to job creation, sustainable employment and social impact for areas of our community that need it most.
Cleanaway has become a member of Social Traders’ business network to develop a social procurement strategy that will identify opportunities to increase our social impact through the supply chain. The membership is part of our ongoing efforts to increase sustainable employment opportunities through our operations and improve our impact on the communities where we operate.
Social Traders is a non-profit organisation whose mission is to foster social enterprise growth by helping to connect businesses and government with social enterprise businesses that are delivering social and environmental benefit. Social Traders is currently working with organisations like ANZ, Westpac, Lend Lease, Microsoft, Australia Post, Vic Roads, Johnson & Johnson, University of Melbourne and John Holland.
While Cleanaway already has a number of social enterprises in our procurement network, our membership with Social Traders is intended to identify opportunities in the supply chain to increase social enterprise spend.
Head of Procurement, Alan Wilkerson said, “We’ve already done some spend analysis to see where the opportunities might be. We know that we’ll make the most difference with businesses that operate in our existing supply chain and complement our services.”
“The social enterprise business model is really exciting for us to learn about. Social enterprises are businesses that trade to intentionally tackle social problems, improve communities, provide people access to employment and training, or help the environment. It’s aligned with our mission, to make a sustainable future possible, and our views on sustainable employment.”
Social Traders Executive Director, Mark Daniels, said, “We’re pleased to have Cleanaway join our business network to generate sustainable social impact. By choosing to buy from a social enterprise, Cleanaway will not only get the service that they would have gotten from a commercial supplier, but also the added value of creating jobs and opportunities for people who have struggled to find work or are marginalised.”
Cleanaway will work with Social Traders to conduct a comprehensive analysis of social procurement opportunities, develop a Social Procurement Strategy and raise awareness with internal buyers on how to procure from social enterprises.
Currently Cleanaway has a number of social enterprise partners, including Connecting2Australia (C2A) to provide supported employment and training to people with disability. At Seaford, C2A supported employees work at Cleanaway facilities in a variety of roles such as pallet jacking operations for beverage recycling and data entry for stock keeping.
Social Traders’ mission is to create jobs through social enterprise by social enterprises with social procurement opportunities and supporting social enterprise to successfully deliver on the contracts they win.
Social Traders defines social enterprises as organisations that:
• are led by an economic, social, cultural, or environmental mission consistent with a public or community benefit
• trade to fulfil their mission
• derive a substantial proportion of their income from trade
• reinvest the majority of their profits in the fulfilment of their social mission
Contact us to learn more about the men and women in our expert workforce who are making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.