HUNDREDS of rubbish bins across the North East and Border have gone uncollected with garbage services in limbo after contractor Transpacific Cleanaway grounded its national fleet of 2800 trucks following a fatal crash.
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Albury, Wodonga, Indigo, Corowa, Benalla and Towong councils are all affected by the move, prompted by a collision on Monday which claimed the lives of a man and woman in Adelaide.
Police are investigating whether brake failure caused the crash at the “high-risk location”.
A Transpacific spokeswoman said the company was working to ensure its trucks were back on the road as quickly as possible but there was no timeline for the resumption.
Transpacific had provided police with access to its trucks and maintenance records and the driver had undergone thorough safety training, the spokeswoman said.
Transport Workers Union national secretary Tony Sheldon said he expected trucks to remain off the roads for a week.
He said low operating margins were forcing trucking companies to cut corners.
“This is another example of the pressures that are in the trucking industry — in this case, right across the country from various local governments,” he said.
A large portion of Wodonga Council was hit yesterday.
All houses east of Beechworth Road including Baranduda, Killara and Ebden went without rubbish collection yesterday
Houses to the north and south of Felltimber Creek Road are due for collection today but will also miss out.
In the Albury area, parts of Lavington and Springdale Heights felt the impact yesterday while West Albury would have been due for collection today.
Indigo Council has escaped largely unscathed with its major collection day on Tuesday covering Beechworth and Rutherglen.
However about a dozen householders at Huon were left with full bins after their regular service was canned yesterday.
Houses East of Federation and Honour Avenue in Corowa also missed out yesterday and Mulwala and Howlong can expect the same today.
Wangaratta Council is not affected by the grounding with its recycling services provided by a different company and its garbage bins gathered by an in-house team.
A Greater Hume spokesman said the council had been told that services would still run yesterday, but would be late.
Councils have urged residents to leave their bins out in the hope of a series of catch-up collections over coming days.