Corporate Social Responsibility

Communities. Industries. Organisations. At Veolia, we are firmly committed to supporting the communities in which we work and live, forming partnerships that enable us to fulfil our own demands and the community’s demands for more sustainable solutions.

Part of our commitment is to ensure we provide knowledge and resources to the community to support their active participation in sustainable, community focused programs because we cannot, without their support, bring about change in our industry and the wider community.
 

Supporting the Communities Where we Operate

The Veolia Mulwaree Trust manages and distributes funds to not-for-profit community groups and organisations on behalf of Veolia, owner and operator of the Woodlawn Eco-Precinct, for the benefit of the former Mulwaree Shire Council area as well as its immediate surrounds. Veolia’s Woodlawn Eco-Precinct, previously a copper, lead and zinc open cut mine, is now used as an in-situ Bioreactor, with the surrounding 6000 hectares utilised for aquaculture, horticulture, wind farming and other renewable technologies.

In partnership with the Veolia Mulwaree Trust, we are able to give back to the communities within which Woodlawn operates. Since 2005, the Veolia Mulwaree Trust has distributed more than $10 million into community projects.

 

Our vision for reconciliation

Veolia commits to walking alongside Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples to connect, learn, and create sustainable opportunities in the communities in which we live and operate.

 

Veolia's Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP)

Veolia acknowledges that Aboriginal Australians are the world’s oldest living civilisation, sustainably developing the Australian environment for over 50,000 years. Veolia Australia has been actively walking alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for a number of years in our operations across Australia, by providing support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait communities and by working collectively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations. We acknowledged this importance by formalising this commitment through our first Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), developed in 2014.

The Veolia vision for our second RAP  (June 2017-June 2019) is to build upon this foundation by executing targeted programs aimed at increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation in our workforce and supply chain and to continue the journey of raising the cultural awareness and competency of Veolia as an organisation.

 

Case studies

Veolia’s partnership with Engineering Aid

Engineering Aid Australia (EAA), a not-for profit organisation, aims to encourage Indigenous secondary school students going into years 11 and 12, to consider a career as a professional engineer. Providing opportunities to Indigenous students to realise the myriad career pathways available to them is important to the overall interest of furthering education; and also forms a major focus of the Federal Government’s strategy to ‘close the gap’ between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous Australians. 

 Online Cultural Awareness Training

As part of our first RAP, we partnered with Corporate Culcha, a local Aboriginal business that specialises in e-learning and Indigenous cultural awareness training. Through this partnership, a tailored online program was developed that suited the needs of our business. This online program is now mandatory for all Veolia employees and is a standard part of our induction process. We also implement face to face cultural awareness training as we continue to work with a number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander providers at a local level.

North West Alliance 

In 2013, we formed our first Aboriginal Joint Venture, the ‘North West Alliance’ by partnering with ‘Our Country’, a local Pilbara Aboriginal business in Western Australia that focuses on sustainable development. The vision of this joint venture was to combine the best of Veolia globally with the best of Our Country locally in order to improve sustainability outcomes in the Pilbara region and build local capability. The North West Alliance has become one of the largest Aboriginal owned waste management companies in Australia over the last three years and provides a significant return to local communities through employment and training, local contracting and community sponsorships. 
 

Growing Diversity Within the Supply Chain

Supply Nation is Australia’s leading business-to-business membership body dedicated to growing diversity within the supply chain. They aim to connect members, including Australian government organisations and corporates with Indigenous business suppliers. Veolia has recently become a member of Supply Nation, as we are always seeking to encourage competition within our supply chain and support local communities, whilst helping our clients to reach their supplier diversity goals.