Local success: General manager business development Zane Foott with board directors and founders Jenny and Peter Foott. The Shepparton-owned and based company has won a lucrative waste contract with Greater Shepparton City Council.
A Goulburn Valley-based company is one of the major winners from Greater Shepparton City Council’s re-tendering of its multimillion-dollar waste collection contracts.
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Council last year knocked back a recommendation from a procurement process involving multiple regional councils called the Resource Recovery Collective – Hume that had recommended ASX-listed Cleanaway be granted the majority of contracts for tens of millions of dollars worth of waste collection and processing.
Shepparton-based company FOOTT was overlooked in that process, but through the new procurement effort, has been awarded the bin collection services for all forms of residential waste, including red-lid general waste, yellow-lid co-mingled recyclables, green-lid food organics garden organics (known as FOGO) and purple-lid glass material.
FOOTT was also successful in its tender for bulk transport services, which includes transporting the collected waste to its nominated processing facilities.
Cleanaway will accept and process recyclables, including glass.
The contracts are for an initial seven and a half years with an option for a further seven and a half years.
In total, all contracts issued by council are worth $126,787,442 over a possible 15 years.
“It is a major milestone. What we’re particularly thrilled about is we are a born and bred Shepparton company with a Shepparton family, and we’re most excited about the fact that we get to serve the Shepparton community kerbside contract,” FOOTT chief executive Andrew Yeoland said.
“From our perspective, this is just really a great moment for us because we’ve been servicing the community in other ways, but the fact we can service the community through the Shepparton council, I think, is really an important moment in the organisation’s history.”
Foot to the floor: The FOOTT fleet is set for a major expansion after it was awarded a lucrative waste contract.
Mr Yeoland said winning the contract meant benefits for the regional economy, including the expected purchase of a minimum of 14 new trucks, with further investments in vehicles to come; the hiring of an additional 20 employees, including drivers, managers and support staff based in the region; and expansion of its local infrastructure, including its major Shepparton site.
“I really see it as those three things: it’s the employment benefits, it’s the fact that our suppliers here in Shepparton benefit and also we’ll continue to improve upon our footprint here in Shepparton as well,” Mr Yeoland said.
He also suggested the company, already a known contributor to local events and organisations, would continue to support the wider community.
“We sponsor a lot of different organisations throughout the Goulburn Valley, but in addition to that, we also take our leadership role within the community very seriously as well,” Mr Yeoland said.
“So that’s being part of the business networks of the region and even participating with educational facilities.
“This has been a long journey for the Foott family and the FOOTT business, and I would say the whole organisation is absolutely thrilled, and we appreciate the fact that the Greater Shepparton council had faith in us through this recent tender process, so we’re really excited and can’t wait to get to it.”
Expansion: FOOTT’s Shepparton headquarters is likely to see more investment thanks to its successful tender.
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