Our team is intelligent, hard-working and authentic, and it includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, people with different abilities, and people re-entering the workforce. We are a better workplace for having the door open to a breadth of life experiences.

Thank you to the Soft Landing team for your extraordinary achievements in 2020, managing higher mattress volumes and peaks, and maintaining continuous service during shut-downs. Thank you to our customers and supporters, for helping us create local jobs that care for the planet.

Chris Richards General Manager Soft Landing.

Congratulations to State Manager NSW Joe Rasmussen who has won a Settlement Services International - SSI Community Appreciation Award for his contribution to refugee employment.

Joe recruited more than 50 former refugees at our Smithfield site when more staff were needed for manual processing. SSI has recognised his “dedication to the learning, growth and success” of staff.

Soft Landing General Manager Chris Richards said: “This is a great acknowledgment of Joe’s efforts to establish and drive such an effective relationship with SSI via the Smithfield site, which has led to so many of our staff finding consistent and meaningful employment with Soft Landing.”

Smithfield is based in the Fairfield LGA which welcomes and resettles the largest number of humanitarian migrants in Australia.

Acquiring a business, closing sites and opening new ones, changing to manual processing, recruiting and embedding significant workplace growth, securing contract extensions and welcoming new customers - it was certainly a busy year for Soft Landing.

Read more in the Community Resources Annual Report: http://ow.ly/YbdN50CxgVv

Our Newcastle team featured in the Newcastle Herald today, at the start of National Recycling Week. Well done guys!

https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/7002596/newcastle-business-recycling-mattresses-to-divert-from-landfill/

Kylie Roberts-Frost found herself running Soft Landing’s ACT operations while working from home with two young boys during lockdown this year.

Like all parents in that situation, she did what she could.

"I just did my best, I’d be on a call and the kids were jumping on the bed in the background. I had quite a few calls with people in the same position."

Kylie joined us last year when she was returning to work after having her boys. She came with a corporate mindset, having led a team of 400 people across 15 countries as Head of Sales and Marketing – Asia for the United Arab Shipping Company.

She also came with a social mindset.

"Working with people from different backgrounds and solving this environmental problem ticked just about everything that I had put on my life re-evaluation list."

Once she joined, her commitment grew.

"I feel like we’ve got a broader purpose than 'how many matts did I get through this week' or even 'I offered one guy a job' because it's about what we are potentially changing for the next 80 guys."

In 2019-20 Soft Landing provided 220 employment opportunities across Australia - 77% of our staff have experienced barriers to employment.