YOU might have shut the door on the working year and put the feet up, but spare a thought for those who have literally tonnes to do.
The ever-committed garbage truck drivers of Tamworth are on the clock everyday this week.
The drivers got an early start on Christmas Day just to make sure they could get home early and be with their families.
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Cleanaway regional operations manager Mark Burton said this week was historically a busy one for the garbos.
Mr Burton said the workers manning the eight vehicles on the roads on Christmas started an hour earlier than normal to get the shift done before 2 o’clock.
“It will be something like 100 tonnes of rubbish that will be collected on Christmas,” Mr Burton told The Leader.
“Certainly, after Christmas it will be busier.
“It is still one bin, it’s just everyone will fit as much into it as they can.”
He said an average week would see about 450 tonnes of disposed items collected through the red, yellow and green bins in Tamworth; a figure expected to rise during this week.
Cleanaway also has the contract to collect containers deposited in the region’s return and earn machines which will be jam-packed over the holiday period.
He couldn’t remember a weekday the bins weren’t collected in Tamworth, but didn’t underestimate the potential consequences; he said it’d be a “catastrophe”.
“All of a sudden things start to pile up and we just take it for granted a little bit that we just put our bin out and it’s emptied, but it is major operation to get all of those bins emptied consistently Monday to Friday,” he said.
Jacob McArthur
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
