The change of provider for residential and commercial rubbish collection hasn’t been the smoothest changeover for many households.
Business owners along Tibbereena Street are the latest to voice their concerns.
Ken Gordon, owner of Fiesta Fried Chicken, says under the old rubbish bin collection arrangements, his bins were emptied three times per week by Namoi WasteCorp.
After initially providing the same type of collection, new provider Cleanaway has now decided it will only empty the bins once per week.
Mr Gordon says he’s concerned about hygeine risks.
“For a standard business it’s probably not so bad, but being a takeaway shop, and I’m speaking for the pizza places as well, I think it’s a hygeine issue,” he said.
“They absolutely reek, when the bins are on the sidewalk, when you open the front door of my shop you can smell it from the counter.”
Prior to the change of rubbish companies, Namoi WasteCorp emptied Mr Gordon’s three general waste bins on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
When Cleanaway took over, the bins continued to be emptied three times per week.
But Mr Gordon says the company has now had a change of mind.
“They’ve told all the businesses along that area [Tibbereena Street] that they’re only picking up once a week on the Friday unless we organise otherwise through the council and you will probably have to pay more,” he said.
“The problem I, and the other food shops, have is that no one had told us we had to organise it through the council, they were picking up our bins then all of a sudden our bins sat on the sidewalk for about 10 days,” Mr Gordon said.
Cleanaway had not returned phone calls by the time The Courier went to print.