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Job in resource recovery ‘eye opener’ for Tabitha Tatoy

Tabitha Tatoy

Growing up in the Philippines, Tabitha Tatoy initially had designs on working in the STEM field when thinking of a career path. When it came to tertiary education, Tatoy was adamant that the sciences were her calling, specifically geology.

She applied for a place at Macquarie University for a science degree, but before she arrived in Sydney, the university had changed the major from a Bachelor of Science majoring in Geological Science to one that majored in Earth and Environmental Science. The geology part was still part of the qualification, but the emphasis had changed.

“I think that they did this because they had more of a need for environmental students,” she said. “It was very last minute for me to do the environmental part, but I am very thankful that they changed it because it opened up more options.”

Once she finished her degree, Tatoy was going to start a master’s because she originally wanted to do research but had a change of heart when thinking about the direction that would take her career.

“The more I got into my degree, the more I realised that the only people that read research papers are going to be other researchers, especially when it comes to environmental sciences and soil types,” she said.

It was after that epiphany that Tatoy decided to look for a full-time job and put her master’s degree on hold. She applied for jobs in the mining and environmental consulting industries, and also for one job in the waste/resource recovery sector with Veolia. It was here that she got the position of business development graduate.

“I applied for the job at Veolia because I wanted to get hands-on experience,” said Tatoy. “I wanted to do something with my degree like soil sampling or researching.”

She has found the job to be a welcome learning curve and is pleased with how she is going so far. What do her day-to-day activities consist of? It has a lot of variety, said Tatoy. She sees the business development position akin to project development/delivery. The biggest project that she is currently working on is Veolia’s Woodlawn energy from waste (EfW) endeavour, which is currently at the planning stage. She said one of the most important parts of this project for her is stakeholder engagement, which means she has gained some great experience working with the local community and government regulators. What are some of the specifics of the role?

“Every day is different, but last week I had a community engagement event,” she said. “I wrote some of the event collateral such as the FAQs, as well as the event planning and run sheets to make sure it all went smoothly.”

Rewarding

Like a lot of young people who start their career in the waste/resource recovery industry, Tatoy finds the environment a lot different on the inside from what she thought it was like on the outside. There are many aspects that she was unaware of before she started in the role.

For example? She didn’t realise that it was private contractors that generally picked up the waste. She thought all councils did it themselves.

Read more: Young professional loves role with TSA

“I also didn’t realise how technical the recycling process was – I was lucky enough to visit a recycling facility and the amount of machinery and handling that goes into sorting recyclable waste was impressive,” she said.

Tatoy finds the business development aspect has been rewarding for her because she now sees the effect her work can have on the wider community and how it can make a difference.

“I know that what I’m doing is an essential service,” she said. “I never really looked at it that way before. If your bins don’t get picked up, or if we didn’t ensure people’s waste was recycled properly, it affects everyone, especially our planet. It’s been very rewarding for me on that aspect.”

The future

Tatoy said she is too early into her career to make any decision on whether the resource recovery industry will be something she will be part of for the rest of her life.

However, what she has been involved with so far, she said, makes for an interesting career moving forward.

“As part of my role with Veolia I’ll participate in three rotations across the business,” she said. “I’m currently in business development, but I’m looking at a rotation for environmental reporting next. I’m keen to get my hands on the operational side of the business. I’ll then try to do something in the environmental advisory space.”

Tatoy feels that because she’s so new to the business, it’s all about trying to learn and soaking up as much information as she can.

“When I first applied and got hired, I didn’t really know what business development was, or what the industry was about,” she said. “It’s so much more than just collection from your household.”

As for her own future, Tatoy feels she might be in the industry for the long haul. She finds it interesting, lots to do, and plenty of challenges ahead.

“Hopefully I can get more experience within business development and get multiple other projects under my belt,” she said. “ I know the business has so many opportunities, even within other states, too. I want to get some operational experience that I feel would help me to grow and align with my studies , and to help make a positive difference to the environment.” 

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