24/10/2025
Presidents Report 2024-25
Eaglehawk Recycle Shop Inc (ERS) is the leading recycling business in Bendigo and although we are a small to medium Not for Profit business, we have established a reputation in Victoria as a leading-edge social enterprise having operated at the entrance to the Eaglehawk landfill for the past 30 years. Our mission is to create employment opportunities and to provide cost effective recycling services to the Bendigo Community by diverting waste from landfill. This year we diverted 3,455 tonnes of waste, saving the Bendigo community more than $1,000,000 in landfill fees.
ERS is administered by a voluntary Board of Directors with a diverse range of skills and experience whose contribution and commitment has helped the business to be successful for this long period of time. The current ERS Board consists of Leon Scott (Vice President), Phillipa Scullie (Treasurer), Independent Directors, Len Willaims and Tim Miller.
As a Social Enterprise ERS has a close relationship with our local community in not only providing a friendly and engaging environment for our staff and customers but also a wider connection to the Bendigo community. Over the past 12 months we have created employment opportunities for over 20 staff. We are fortunate in having a mix of very experienced staff and people seeking employment. Some of these job seekers are medium to long term unemployed and we are pleased to provide them with excellent professional development including equipment and machinery operating skills. We continue to employ supported workers who carry out a range of duties to assist in their personal development. Our sales staff have great interpersonal skills and we pride ourselves in operating a business that is welcoming to our customers.
With cost-of-living pressures facing our customers we continue to provide free recycling services to our community for the safe disposal of household materials including Polystyrene, Detox your Home (fluoroes and batteries), Paint back, Cardboard, EWaste, Soft Plastics and Textiles. Historically ERS has been able to cross subsidise these finance negative areas with our finance positive areas including our shop sales and scrap metal sales prices which currently is at an 8-year low. Unfortunately, we have seen a significant decline in our Balance Sheets with our 2023/24 financial year audit showing a deficit of $88,000 and this 2024/25 financial year audit showing a deficit of $132,000.
In March of 2025 we appointed a very experienced Recycling Manager Adrian Ohlson, we tasked him to develop a business plan to improve the efficiency of the business. He has attracted new business including developing relationships with new businesses and negotiated new contracts for some of our major services including Cardboard, Mattresses, and E-Waste and although this has improved our bottom line, these areas continue to make a loss because we are unable to charge a fee to our customers under the terms of our Management Agreement with the City of Greater Bendigo.
The ERS Board of Directors have determined the business is no longer financially sustainable, and we sought urgent financial assistance from the City of Greater Bendigo. Unfortunately, ERS was unable to secure adequate and ongoing financial assistance from the Council to continue to operate. Following advice from our financial Auditor the ERS board made the decision to voluntary close the business whilst we had sufficient liquidity in the business to pay out our staff entitlements including their redundancies. In accordance with ERS’s Constitution any surplus cash will be donated to a charitable institution.
ERS has reached an agreement with the City of Greater Bendigo to sell them all our assets and for an orderly transfer of the ERS site, with the Council taking over the management of the site from the 1 November 2025. Finally, I wish to acknowledge the dedicated service of our ERS employees, some of whom have been with us for many years. These staff are highly skilled and many have had discussions with the Council’s recruitment agency to secure employment with the Council and continue the legacy of ERS.
Jeff Cummins
President Eaglehawk Recycle Shop Inc.
