Gunnedah Recyclit’s financial future has been secured after signing a new agreement with Gunnedah Shire Council.
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At the ordinary council meeting on Wednesday last week, the council resolved to execute a new agreement with Gunnedah Workshop Enterprises to share the NSW Container Deposit Scheme Refunds at a ratio of 80:20 for each quarter.
The agreement will come into place on December 1, 2018 and will see the council retain 20 per cent of the refunds to maintain the recycling facility.
“Now we're guaranteed income from the scheme to purchase some capital items,” Gunnedah Workshop Enterprises manager Mick Hull said.
"Hopefully, we’ll be purchasing a new truck in a few weeks now that the agreement has been signed off.”
This equipment is urgently needed to carry out recycling operations in future
- Mick Hull, Gunnedah Workshop Enterprises
Since the deposit scheme was launched in Gunnedah on December 1, 2017, Gunnedah Workshop Enterprises has received 100 per cent of the refunds and at the ordinary meeting, general manager Mick Hull put a case forward for the agreement to continue on those terms.
Mr Hull said the refunds would enable the recycling facility to upgrade its equipment before its contractual contract with the council expired in 2020.
“Currently, we need to upgrade a truck, which is 23 years old, and a tractor,” he said on Wednesday.
“This equipment is urgently needed to carry out recycling operations in future.”
While Mr Hull said the council’s decision of a ratio of 80:20 was a “good outcome”, receiving 100 per cent of the refunds would have gone some way to making up for loss of the bottles and cans, which are put through Gunnedah’s reverse vending machine instead.
In less than a year, more than three million bottles and cans have gone through Gunnedah’s machine, which Mr Hull said equated to a $30,000 loss for Gunnedah Workshop Enterprises.
However, he said the business could recoup its losses by 2019 “if the product continues to come through the recycling bins”.
“Even though we’ve lost $30,000 of product... we’re still going to end up in front by $20,000 in the next 12 months,” Mr Hull said,
“It’s going to help us out in the long run but that product we’re not getting is not being processed by us so it takes a bit of work from us.”