Topsoil Organics employees with the Small Business Award at the awards night were (L-R) Kylie Martin, Siobhan Ber-mingham, Lan Nicholson, Dan Nicholson, Stephanie Crowe and Eloise Clayton.
An innovative and young Forbes business took out the Small Business award at the 2022 Western NSW Business Awards held at Taronga Western Plains Zoo recently.
First time entrants Top Soil Organics shocked and surprised themselves by winning the most competitive category on the night.
“We are very excited about this award,” said Director Dan Nicholson. “It’s been very tough as a new business through COVID, but this award gives us a feeling that we must be on the right path. It gives us reassurance for the future.”
After exponential growth over the past 12 months for the composting making business and the staff compliment growing from two full-time employees to 19, Dan said he foresaw business tripling in size over the next three years.
He said the company had four vacancies at the moment, and if winning the award made them stand out to attract good employees, it would be a further win.
Topsoil’s composting facility opened last year and provides an environmentally compliant facility for the receival and reuse of food and green waste. The facility processes food and green waste from supermarkets in metropolitan areas, mainly Sydney, into compost that is sold to farmers in the Central West as fertiliser.
“There is a massive demand for the end product, and as food waste needs to be diverted from landfill, there is an opportunity to keep growing,” said Dan. He is looking to expand his processing capacity from 30,000 tons to 150,000 tons.
“We are looking at equipment from Europe to depackage the plastic on food products. Once we’ve found an end market for the plastic, we will complete the circular economy loop from supermarket to farmer and the farmer’s produce back to the supermarket.
“We are very proud where we’ve come from,” said Dan.
By Maggi Barnard