The Quirindi Waste Service Partnership
Liverpool Plains Shire Council
The Quirindi Waste Management Project is an innovative partnership between Liverpool Plains Shire Council and the Quirindi Aboriginal Corporation (QAC).
In 2009 the QAC successfully tendered for the management of three of Council's landfills and for the sorting and disposal of waste to be recycled.
The project employs eighteen persons with sixteen being Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. The employees have received substantial training in cash handling, plant operation, customer service and in recycling machine operation.
Since the new recycling service has been operating there has been an 88% increase in the volume of recycled materials collected and this has reduced the amount of waste entering council's landfills and increased their useful life.
The results of Council's March 2011 Community Satisfaction Survey undertaken by Micromex Research Pty Ltd reveal that recycling and waste management are the two highest services provided by Council in terms of both importance and community satisfaction and this is largely due to the service provision by QAC.
Many products collected at the landfills are resold through the Our Community Shop which also employs three Indigenous persons with profits being distributed to local charities.
The QAC purchased a local landscaping supply business from profits made and relocated it to the Quirindi landfill. This business allows residents to drop off waste in utilities and trailers and pick up landscaping materials on the way out. This is an efficient use of resources with employees who work at the gate taking fees also being trained as plant operators to load materials. The community benefits as it now has access to a seven day a week business instead of the five and a half day business previously offered.
The partnership has yielded numerous benefits to the local Indigenous community, council, community residents, the local economy and to the environment.
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