Farewell RRG | Formerly SMRC

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Good evening everyone, and thank you for being here.

I begin by acknowledging the Whadjuk Noongar people as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we gather tonight.

I pay my respects to their Elders past and present, and acknowledge all First Nations people with us this evening.

For countless generations, Aboriginal people have cared for Country with a deep understanding that land, water, people and resources are connected, and that what we take carries a responsibility to protect, renew and return.

That principle has a special connection to the work we celebrate tonight. At its heart, resource recovery is about respecting what Country provides, avoiding waste, returning nutrients to the soil, recovering value from materials and leaving a healthier environment for those who come after us.

It is fitting that, as we reflect on the legacy of the Resource Recovery Group, we also recognise the enduring knowledge and custodianship of the Whadjuk Noongar people and their continuing care for Country.

This also builds naturally from the acknowledgement used in RRG’s final Annual Report.

Tonight is a farewell, but it is not a funeral. It is a celebration of an organisation that changed the way local government in Western Australia thought about waste, resources and regional cooperation.

For 25 years, the Southern Metropolitan Regional Council, later the Resource Recovery Group, carried a simple but ambitious idea: that councils could achieve more together than any one council could achieve alone.

The organisation began in 2001 with a practical and visionary purpose: to plan, coordinate and implement regional waste services; use economies of scale to deliver value; influence waste policy; reduce greenhouse emissions; educate the community; explore new technology; and recover as much as possible from the residential waste stream.

That vision was remarkable for its time. Long before “circular economy” became common language, the people who built this organisation understood that waste was not simply something to bury. It contained materials, energy, nutrients and value. They understood that landfill capacity was finite, that methane mattered, and that councils had a responsibility to think beyond their own boundaries and beyond the next election cycle.

At its height, seven member councils represented hundreds of thousands of residents across the southern metropolitan region. Together, they backed one of the most ambitious local government waste projects undertaken in Western Australia.

The Regional Resource Recovery Centre became the physical expression of that vision. Its first stage opened in 2001, bringing together materials recovery, green waste processing and community education. The Waste Composting Facility followed, completing infrastructure that was among the largest and most advanced of its kind.

From there, the achievements came year after year.

The organisation produced paper, cardboard, glass, steel, aluminium and plastics for remanufacture. It turned green waste into mulch and the organic fraction of household waste into compost used by farmers. It built an audit facility to understand exactly what was in our bins. It developed markets for recovered products. It pioneered carbon abatement and became an Australian first in securing accreditation for a municipal solid waste composting facility.

It also understood that technology alone would never be enough. Living Smart, ClimateWise, the GREAT Games, school programs, facility tours and Recycle Right helped people understand that the system begins at the kitchen bin and the kerbside. Recycle Right grew from a regional education program into a trusted app, website and consistent public message used well beyond the original member councils.

This organisation was also tested.

In 2005, when a recycling contractor collapsed, the Council and staff put contingency arrangements in place and kept most of the region’s recycling moving. In 2009, a devastating fire destroyed the Materials Recovery Facility. Again, services continued, the facility was rebuilt, and a new $20 million plant opened in 2012.

There were odour issues, licence conditions, major capital upgrades, volatile commodity markets, changing State policy, withdrawals by member councils and ageing infrastructure. Later, when a major private Materials Recovery Facility was destroyed by fire, the Regional Resource Recovery Centre became critical contingency infrastructure for metropolitan Perth, operating extra shifts and absorbing much of the displaced recycling.

Those moments matter because they tell us what this organisation really was. It was not just buildings and machinery. It was people who solved problems under pressure and understood that waste collection and processing are essential public services.

The next major transformation was FOGO.

The large-scale three-bin trial with the City of Melville began in 2017. It demonstrated strong community support, lower overall processing costs and a major improvement in compost quality. It won a State Government Infinity Award and helped position the region ahead of the State’s move towards consistent FOGO services.

The old Waste Composting Facility was then repurposed for FOGO processing. That was a practical expression of the organisation’s culture: adapt existing infrastructure, improve the product, recover more value and keep moving forward.

In its final full year of operations, the team received about 82,000 tonnes of material and recovered 74,530 tonnes across FOGO, recycling and green waste. That is a 91 per cent resource recovery rate. It exceeded the State’s targets and the organisation’s own target. The team also retained its quality, environmental and safety accreditations and recorded no lost-time injuries.

That is an extraordinary final operational result.

Tonight, we must also celebrate the people who made this possible.

Cr Clive Robartson recognised early that domestic waste could be treated as a resource. His long service, advocacy and leadership helped turn a regional concept into a real waste strategy and major infrastructure.

Cr Doug Thompson served on the Regional Council from its beginning in 2001 until 2023. Across more than two decades, as Chair, Deputy Chair and Councillor, Doug provided continuity, conviction and a deep belief in councils working collectively. His contribution is woven through almost every chapter of this organisation’s history.

We acknowledge former Chairs Tony Romano and Cameron Schuster, every Regional Councillor who carried the responsibility on behalf of their council, and the mayors, councillors, chief executives and officers of all member councils who backed the regional model over many years. I also acknowledge the final Regional Council: myself as Chair, Deputy Chair Cr Andrew Sullivan, Cr Daniel Lim and Cr Frank Mofflin. They accepted the responsibility of seeing the organisation through its final chapter with care, discipline and respect for its legacy.

We recognise the chief executives and senior leaders who turned Council decisions into daily operations. Stuart McAll oversaw the establishment and early operation of the Regional Resource Recovery Centre. Tim Youé helped shape the business, then led it as Chief Executive through major operational and strategic change. Brendan Doherty gave decades of technical and strategic service before leading the transition in 2024. Acting CEO Marten Tieleman then brought the guidance and steady hand needed to steer the organisation through its final phase and safely to the end.

We also recognise Chris Wiggins, the long-serving corporate and operational leaders, the engineers, educators, administration and finance teams, weighbridge staff, maintenance crews, sorters, plant operators, contractors, community volunteers and everyone who worked safely and professionally, often without public recognition.

And then came the final transition.

This was not a ceremonial wind-up. It involved live waste operations, employees facing uncertainty, major assets, contractual and environmental obligations, complex agreements between councils, and one non-negotiable requirement: the service could not stop.

In 2024, former Mayor of Fremantle Hannah Fitzhardinge and I were joined by former Councillor's Jane Edinger, (Melville), and Jenny Archibald, (Fremantle). This all-women Council was not the last Council, but it was the Council that carried the weight of the most difficult decisions about winding up the projects and protecting the continuity of an essential waste service.

We did not inherit an easy chapter. We had to stand up, make disciplined decisions, work through the detail and keep the focus on continuity, staff, governance and the long-term future of the operations. I want to thank Hannah, Jane and Jenny for the seriousness, courage and care they brought to that responsibility.

I also thank the Cities of Fremantle and Melville, their elected members and staff, and our own executive and transition teams. In particular, I acknowledge Mick McCarthy and Paul Molony, Graham Tattersall and Matt Hammond, and their respective teams. Their detailed work, advice and persistence were essential to moving from difficult decisions to a workable transition without interrupting waste and resource recovery services.

I also want to personally acknowledge Helen Hardcastle, who supported me through my first CEO exit and recruitment and helped me navigate the rocky road towards the wind-up and transition. It was not easy, but it was certainly one of the greatest lessons in leadership, governance and resilience I have experienced.

Resource Recovery Group ceased trading on 30 November 2025. A new operator assumed responsibility for the Regional Resource Recovery Centre on 1 December. The administration office was sold and vacated on 5 December. The handover was completed, and the essential work continued.

That is the right measure of the transition. The organisation concluded, but the service did not fail.

The legacy of SMRC and RRG lives on in the Regional Resource Recovery Centre, in the systems and skills transferred to a new operator, in the FOGO services now used by communities, in the Recycle Right message, in the waste professionals trained here, and in the expectation that valuable material should be recovered rather than buried.

Most of all, it lives in the proof that local governments can take a long view, share risk, build major infrastructure and deliver environmental outcomes that would be impossible alone.

Before I finish, I want to give a special shout-out to Ann Johnson and her team. The professionalism, dedication and care they brought to the final stages of this organisation deserve to be recognised. They kept turning up, kept the work moving and treated people and the organisation’s legacy with respect.

To every councillor, officer, employee, contractor, volunteer, community adviser and resident who played a part: thank you.

You did not simply manage waste. You changed the system, built public understanding, reduced emissions, recovered resources and created a legacy that will continue long after the organisation’s name has gone.

Tonight, we close the book on the Resource Recovery Group with pride, gratitude and enormous respect for everyone who wrote its pages.

Thank you.

Final Chair, Resource Recovery Group

Councillor, City of Melville.