Wanaka Wastebusters has reported a $1.61 million turnover for the past year, achieving a surplus, despite losing the town's kerbside recycling contract in March.
The result showed "the strength of our financial management systems", Wanaka Wastebusters executive committee chairman Russell McGeorge said.
Manager Sue Coutts said the community enterprise had put more than $1.2 million of its turnover back into the local economy through wages and money spent on goods and services, and it remained a "major Wanaka employer" with 25 staff.
"Part of our vision is to provide meaningful jobs for people in our community. It was one of the biggest positives in a challenging year that we managed to keep on nearly all our permanent employees," Ms Coutts said.
However, the loss of the contract was a "real blow" in that it meant four permanent staff lost their jobs and extra casual employees during busy periods were no longer needed.
Priorities for Wanaka Wastebusters for the rest of 2012 were improving the experience of people visiting the recycling centre and expanding its education for sustainability programmes, she said.
