From waste to wealth

Eileen reckons they’d still be in Northern Ireland if not for the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, which left them broke because the developer of a major housing project they were building couldn’t pay them. “After losing everything, I told Gerry, ‘We’ve got 2 little boys, and the reality is we’re going to be poor for a while; so, we can stay here and be poor and cold or go back to Darwin and be poor and warm. We chose the latter and had jobs within a week of landing, Gerry with his brother back in the industry and me helping in my parents’ market juice business while also doing office work at Humpty Doo’s St Francis of Assisi school where our boys were enrolled. Six months later Gerry had started up his own business with some help from my parents, and NTEX was soon prominent on the urban landscape.” 

With profits constantly fluctuating as economic trends changed, the family needed a regular income, which led Eileen to her ‘perfect job’ as the first Top End field officer for the Many Rivers agency, which helped disadvantaged clients gain skills and financial backing to start their own businesses. Later, she became regional head, managing teams from the NT, Torres Strait, Far North Queensland and Tasmania.

In 2020, Gerry coaxed Eileen to rejoin NTEX to manage the company’s new waste management strategy to minimise waste. They invested in a “whiz bang” heavy duty German machine to recycle waste for new developments and business flourished as big government contracts flowed. 

Eileen says while sustainability is a critical aspect of what NTEX does, the company focuses on 3 key pillars – People, Planet and Profit. “Businesses are obliged to make a profit, which provides jobs and taxes for roads and other infrastructure, but they need to understand that they can actually make a big difference for people and the planet and still make a profit,” she says. 

As a key part of this pathway, NTEX is helping build positive outcomes for local Indigenous people. “We decided that whatever initiatives we adopted had to make a real difference, and we started mentoring First Nations people just starting up businesses within our industry,” she says. “We don’t do the work for them but work alongside them, providing access to our human resources, and sharing our knowledge and networks.” 

NTEX has partnered with Grassroots Action Palmerston Aboriginal Corporation, which helps find jobs for disengaged Indigenous youth, many of whom have been through the youth justice system and struggle to turn their lives around. “We have 3 young people working with us now and another has recently come on board,” Eileen says. “Even if NTEX can’t offer them permanent jobs, we commit to taking them on for 10 weeks and if they get through that time, we recommend them to other employers. So, we’re meeting our environmental and community work [commitments], which I believe are the basic principles of sustainability and can be applied to any kind or size of business.”

NTEX has also engaged local Larrakia man Tony Duwun Lee as a First Nations advisor to provide guidance on potential cultural issues or past troubles. He recently conducted a smoking ceremony at a disused Darwin housing block due for demolition, because, he says, it was important to the Larrakia People to clean away spirits and protect the site in the wake of past suicides, trauma and dysfunction there. 

 “Eileen has stood up and been left, right and centre in including Indigenous youth within the NTEX workforce program and through her efforts, has got other companies to look at giving these young ones a go,” Tony says. “Some have made it through. Others haven’t, but many have experienced trauma and need to be built up slowly. Eileen has also made her mark with career choices and working closely with the Indigenous mob. She’s seen the disadvantage that Indigenous people go through and is committed to making a change.” NTEX won an NT Chamber of Commerce corporate and social responsibility business excellence award for its work in helping secure jobs for Indigenous youth.

Eileen’s life has been particularly hectic since her AgriFutures rural award win. Last August she and Donna Digby, NT chair of AgriFutures’ 45-member Territory rural awards alumni, embarked on a highly successful Territory regional roadshow to promote the annual awards and attract future applicants, and so Eileen could present her new workshop on how other businesses could adopt her family’s SustainAbility principles.

“Eileen is a very engaging and articulate workshop presenter driven by her passion through NTEX and wanting to leave the world a better place,” Donna says. “Her award application showed a clear determination to enable and build the capacity of other businesses to embed sustainability practices within their operations. She builds confidence by breaking down a big concept into practical, bite-sized pieces that other owners can confidently put into practice in their own situations. Her clear message is that by being more sustainable in our lives everyone, from businesses to the broader community, can have a positive impact.”

Eileen has addressed multiple government agencies about SustainAbility, been a Charles Darwin University guest lecturer on the concept and participated in the Australian Rural Leadership Program. She also chairs an NT Chamber of Commerce Business Sustainability Working Group that’s emerged from her project. “It’s about getting like-minded industry and government stakeholders on board to reach Territory businesses and grow the impact of business sustainability across the Territory,” she says. 

Eileen and Gerry enjoy close family ties and in recent times 3 generations – including sons John and Dan and Eileen’s parents Bert and Heather, who’d sold up and moved north several years ago – have lived on the family’s 8ha Girraween rural block outside Darwin. “Sadly, Mum became very sick last year and passed away in October,” Eileen says. “It was really tough. Mum and Dad had been together 61 years. I made Mum a promise I’d always look after Dad. He’s in his own house next to us and I’ve been able to see him and be with him every day.” 

AgriFutures says Eileen’s proactive passion for sustainability has transformed the family business into a shining example of a circular economy and where recycling and reusing have become the core focus of their operations. Eileen’s personal goal is to develop a whole ecosystem of sustainable businesses throughout the Territory. “We’ve made a good start,” she says. “I’ve had great feedback from small businesses now implementing change because of my workshops. One got rid of its obsolete photocopier, and another uses only recycled paper for all its promotional materials. If every business made just a 1% change to their operations consistently over a year, that would equate mathematically to a 38% improvement across the entire business spectrum.