Veolia awarded City of Gold Coast resource recovery (RRS) contract

Veolia, the benchmark company for ecological transformation, has been awarded a $280 million contract to operate several of the City of Gold Coast’s (City) recycling, resource recovery and waste management facilities.

As part of an initial 7-year contract with the City, Veolia has committed to a 5% improvement to the Gold Coast's recovery rates by 2025, through optimised waste management and increased recycling. 

From May 2023, Veolia will operate up to 5 of the region's essential resource recovery facilities, including 3 community waste and recycling centres, and 2 landfills. Veolia will also run 14 logistics vehicles and work with the region’s social enterprise organisations to drive further environmental outcomes. Overall, approximately 100 personnel will be directly employed by Veolia as the RRS contractor.

The City of Gold Coast is the second largest local government and sixth largest city in Australia with a resident population of more than 633,000 and welcoming more than 10 million domestic visitors per year.

Craig Barker, Veolia’s chief operating officer (COO) for resource recovery, said the contract award will bolster recycling and deliver landfill avoidance - all of which will contribute to a better environment.

“We plan to evolve the city’s circular economy agenda, by delivering an uplift in resource recovery by 5% by 2025. Protecting the environment is important to the Gold Coast community and we’re committed to making this happen.”

Mr Barker said the future of the environmental industry is growth, especially as policy demands an improvement in recycling and recovery rates. 

“Australians create 61.5 million tonnes of waste each year and we only recover 60% of it. We know that by working with the Gold Coast community, we can recycle more, which would help to increase this number,” he said.  “While the Gold Coast has not achieved 60% yet, our partnership will help support the Gold Coast in reaching this target.” 

City of Gold Coast CEO Tim Baker said the City was delighted to be engaging an experienced industry partner to deliver on its mission to protect the health and safety of the community and the environment.

“This will be a strategic, collaborative, long-term contract with a single, experienced delivery partner that will leave a positive legacy for the city.

“As well as the direct cost savings, we expect to derive additional benefits of $35 million over the 7 years, including avoiding up to $15.8 million in State Waste Levy payments.”

Veolia COO Craig Barker concluded that the contract award will ensure a robust and collaborative partnership with the City.

“We are simply thrilled to have been awarded the contract. It’s an exciting time for the industry and we’re confident that in working with the City of Gold Coast, we can bring many benefits to the local community, and improve the environment at the same time,” he concluded.

Veolia will be contracted for a period of up to 18 years (one 7-year term, plus extension options of 6 years and 5 years respectively). The City will continue to own all of its facilities and infrastructure assets and will also retain control of waste rates, fees and charges.

Veolia Group aims to become the benchmark company for ecological transformation. Present on 5 continents with nearly 220,000 employees, the group designs and deploys useful, practical solutions for the management of water, waste and energy that are contributing to a radical turnaround of the current situation. Through its 3 complementary activities, Veolia helps to develop access to resources, to preserve available resources and to renew them. In 2021, the Veolia Group provided 79 million inhabitants with drinking water and 61 million with sanitation, produced nearly 48 million megawatt hours of energy and recovered 48 million tonnes of waste. Veolia Environnement (Paris Euronext: VIE) achieved consolidated revenue of 28.508 billion euros in 2021. www.veolia.com/anz

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