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Cost of living: New data from Foodbomb exposes foods hit hardest by inflation

Cost of living: New data from Foodbomb exposes foods hit hardest by inflation

As the consumer price index (CPI) tips over 6 per cent, new data reveals how much staple pantry items, fruits and vegetables have soared in price over the last six months.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the price of food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 5.9 per cent in the last year due to high freight costs, supply constraints and strong demand.

As a result, consumers and businesses have gone to extreme lengths to cope with the country’s cost of living crisis as empty shelves, sky-high price tags and costly grocery bills become the new normal.

Recently there have been some unusual methods Australians have used to slash costs and make-up for insufficient stock, including broccoli stalks being broken off and left on fresh produce units and KFC switching lettuce for cabbage in its burgers.

So with the effects of inflation felt and seen right around the country, food experts from Foodbomb crunched the numbers to assess which foods are having the greatest impact on consumers’ hip pockets.

Research shows that broccoli, iceberg lettuce and baby spinach have been the most expensive items in short supply within the last six months.

Broccoli has increased by a staggering 130 per cent, with a box previously worth $42 now costing stockists $95 each. This increase is then passed onto consumers per kilo.

Meanwhile, the price of iceberg lettuce hiked from $4 to $10.80, at a 151 per cent increase. A bag of shredded lettuce also rose for $7.50 per kilo.

As for baby spinach, the price for a 1.5kg box more than doubled, rising from $16.50 to $38.50.

While these prices have caused trouble for consumers and businesses in the past, offering some hope is Mouhamad Dib, the company director at MD Provodores.

He told news.com.au that despite the increase in costs observed recently, the inflated price tags on these leafy vegetables won’t be here to stay.

“The cost of fertilizer from the farms, to labor shortages and transport costs has amplified pricing across all sectors,” Mr Dib said.

“But with spring around the corner and summer days behind it, we hope to see some prices come down. Lettuce leaves are definitely still in short supply, but broccoli and baby spinach are getting better.”

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for staple pantry items and animal products which are taking a hit as a result of global events and supply chain issues.

Oil unexpectedly soared in price with 20 liters of sunflower oil doubling from $30.60 to $66. Whereas the cost of canola oil is triple the amount, with some suppliers selling the same quantity for as much as $92.10.

It’s bad news for egg lovers with the war in Ukraine preventing farmers globally from sourcing feed grain which has in turn slowed egg production.

As a result, wholesale prices for a one dozen carton of free-range eggs have risen from $2.60 to $4.45. Caged eggs have also seen a similar increase however, they aren’t selling out in supermarkets as quickly due to the shift in demand for the cage-free range.

Foodbomb predicts that egg supply will run tight for the next 18 months as feed supply becomes increasingly difficult to source.

Salmon and chicken breast are also among some of the other animal products in short supply while selling at a higher cost, now ticketed at $40kg and 9.50kg respectively.

Similar to the egg situation, consumers can expect the price of chicken meat to remain high for the next 12 months.

Anthony Ponte from the operations and procurement department at wholesaler Melba Fresh told news.com.au that these price increases are a reflection of the market.

“(Prices) are going up because the supply is going down, while the demand is staying the same if not increasing. As a result, we’re getting less sales and it’s getting harder and harder to source produce,” he said.

“We’ve been looking everywhere, interstate and all kinds of places, just trying to get our hands on products. It’s been very hard. We have to split what we’ve got between orders, but you still ultimately end up disappointing everyone.”

Mushrooms also make Foodbomb’s top 10 list of expensive items in short supply with a box now priced at $50 each. Lebanese cucumbers, $11 per kilo, and cabbage, $14 each, come in at ninth and 10th place.

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Geelong building company Norris Construction Group collapses owing $27m

Geelong building company Norris Construction Group collapses owing $27m

A collapsed Victorian construction company has $27 million in debt and owes $3.2 million to around 140 staff that it is unlikely to be able to repay, according to the liquidator’s report which revealed what went wrong.

The Geelong-based company called Norris Construction Group, which included seven associated companies, went under in March with KordaMentha appointed to handle the liquidation.

Its report, which was filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, revealed the range of reasons for the company’s failure.

It included the “misprising of projects” and a “crisis of confidence” experienced by the business during lockdowns in Victoria between March and October 2020 resulting in projects being tendered at “very low prices”.

This resulted in “heavy losses” on a very large number of projects, the report to creditor’s said.

It also outlined “cultural issues amongst the executive team leading to staff losses and staff turnover” as well as hiring new staff on “high remuneration packages”.

The pandemic also contributed to the company’s demise, as well as “noncompliance” with lodging statements and returns with the ATO and unpaid taxes, alongside “insufficient working capital” to meet its short term obligations.

The company had completed work on the Manufutures hub at Deakin University and the Marngoneet and Chisholm Road prisons and worked across Melbourne and southwest Victoria.

Millions owed to employees

From the overall group, 235 former employees are owed $4 million in wages and entitlements but will have to rely on the federal government’s Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG) to get their money back.

However the scheme, which is available for employees of companies that become insolvent, caps back pay and does not pay superannuation.

Aside from the $3.2 million owed to employees of Norris Construction Group, there was between $187,000 and $277,000 owed to 235 staff from the overall group including wages, redundancy payouts and superannuation.

But KordaMentha partner Andrew Knight said four out of the five companies that employed staff had “insufficient” assets to pay back the money owed.

“We understand that for four of the five employing entities, FEG has processed and paid over 90 per cent of the employee claims,” he said.

“FEG is still working on claims in the fifth entity, Norris Construction Group, which are more complex due to the quantity of claims as well as the relevant Award which applies to these employees. We estimate the majority of these claims will be resolved and paid within the next month.

“Unfortunately, there are some entitlements that are not covered by FEG, for example superannuation and amounts in excess of caps, and payment of those are dependent on the outcome of the liquidations.”

While an auction of the company equipment and assets in May raised more than $17 million, and is expected to paid to Westpac, the bank will still suffer a “shortfall”, said Mr Knight as its owed $22 million.

The ATO also has an outstanding debt of $5 million, the report revealed.

However, the ATO debt was unlikely to be repaid, Mr Knight added.

“The amount due to the ATO is unsecured, and given the likely shortfall to the employees and the secured creditor, it’s unlikely unsecured creditors including the ATO will be paid a dividend,” he said.

The creditor’s report also flagged it was investigating any potential offenses of director’s duties including trading while insolvent.

construction crisis

Overall, the construction industry has been plagued with a spate of collapses caused by a perfect storm of supply chain disruptions, skilled labor shortages, skyrocketing costs of materials and logistics, and extreme weather events.

Earlier this year, two major Australian construction companies, Gold Coast-based Condev and industry giant Probuild, went into liquidation.

Victorian construction companies have been particularly sensitive to the crisis.

Two building companies from Victoria were casualties of the crisis having gone into liquidation at the end of June, with one homeowner having forked out $300,000 for a now half-built house.

Then there have been smaller operators like Hotondo Homes Horsham, which was also based in Victoria and a franchisee of a national construction firm – which collapsed earlier this month affecting 11 homeowners with $1.2 million in outstanding debt.

It is the second Hotondo Homes franchisee to go under this year, with its Hobart branch collapsing in January owing $1.3 million to creditors, according to a report from liquidator Revive Financial.

Snowdon Developments was ordered into liquidation by the Supreme Court with 52 staff members, 550 homes and more than 250 creditors owed just under $18 million, although it was partially bought out less than 24 hours after going bust.

Others joined the list too including Inside Out Construction, Solido Builders, Waterford Homes, Affordable Modular Homes and Statement Builders.

The most recent collapse was NSW building company Willoughby Homes, which went into voluntary administration last week, leaving at least 30 homes in limbo.

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Expert names ASX share to buy for long-term fortunes

Expert names ASX share to buy for long-term fortunes

A woman standing on the street looks through binoculars.

Image source: Getty Images

It might be counterintuitive, but sometimes investors might be best served to ignore an earnings downgrade.

That’s because if the business is still in a position to take off in the long run, a one-off downgrade may not matter that much.

In fact, it might even present a juicy buying opportunity as skittish shareholders sell off their holdings and bring the price down.

Fortunately for us, Red Leaf Securities chief executive John Athanasiou reckons he’s found an ASX share that’s just in that situation.

‘A dominant position in an industry with high barriers to entry’

The share price for Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd (ASX: CWY) has dropped almost 17% since 21 April.

The movement down wasn’t helped by an update to the market in May.

“The company downgraded earnings due to floods and higher fuel and labor costs,” Athanasiou told The Bull.

But this is a temporary hiccup, and the analyst feels like the structural advantages for Cleanaway are still in play.

“The waste management company has a dominant position in an industry with high barriers to entry,” said Athanasiou.

“The bulk of the company’s revenues are generated from recurring multi-year contracts.”

Athanasiou would buy the stock now for holding over an extended period.

“Despite lag in cost recoveries, Cleanaway’s longer term outlook is bright.”

Cleanaway is scheduled to report its preliminary numbers on 19 August.

Recurring revenues with pricing power to fight inflation

Back in June, Wilsons head of investment strategy David Cassidy also spruiked Cleanaway’s long-term potential, calling it a “quality” ASX share with inflation protection.

“The majority of Cleanaway’s revenue is contracted and therefore recurring,” he said at the time.

“Multi-year contracts provide steady volumes and recurring revenues and include appropriate price adjustment mechanisms.”

The wider analyst community is somewhat divided over the waste management provider.

According to CMC Markets, seven out of 14 analysts currently recommend Cleanaway shares as a buy, with five ratings it as a hold.

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Mum Lisa Fulmore defends are held over shooting of McDonald’s worker

Mum Lisa Fulmore defends are held over shooting of McDonald's worker

The mum of a man held in the shooting of a New York City McDonald’s worker over cold fries says that her son told her he did what he had to do.

Lisa Fulmore, 40, revealed her 20-year-old son’s chilling comments to the New York Post while describing exactly what led up to Monday night’s shooting that left a 23-year-old fast-food employee clinging to life.

“I talked to my son with the cops. My son is just saying that he gotta do what he gotta do and the [victim] came after him and whatever happened, happened,” she said.

The mother of three boys said the incident unfolded after she ordered McDonald’s on her mobile app and went to the Bedford-Stuyvesant eatery in Brooklyn around 7pm to pick up her food, which included fries.

“The fries were cold,” Fulmore said. “I asked the girl to change the French fries because the fries were cold. She went to the French fry machine for maybe 10 seconds and brought back fries, so I thought they were new fries, so I had left.

“So I taste the fries, and after I got to the third one, it was a cold fry still. So I went back to take the food back.

“I asked her, ‘Why would you give me the same fries and just put one or two on top to make me think that you gave me new fries?’ She started laughing, and all of them started laughing, acting like it’s funny,” Fulmore said.

“I was like, ‘What’s funny? I paid for food and I should get what I asked for.’ They laughed at me.

“One of them was like, ‘All of this over fries?’ So now I’m arguing with them back and forth.”

Referring to the worker who was later shot, Fulmore said: “The boy where they cook the food at was like, ‘You got all this food in your teeth.’

“So I said, ‘You wanna take it out? You’re saying I got all this food in my teeth, you wanna take it out?’”

Fulmore said she asked to speak to their boss and the workers said the manager had stepped out.

“Everybody started laughing again,” she said.

“This is when I was on the phone with my son. I was like, ‘They in this McDonald’s playing with me.’ I was like, I got kids their age, I’m not going to sit here and keep arguing with these little kids. He was like, ‘I’m coming down the block.’

“I was like, ‘Alright.’ … Then I told him, ‘No, don’t come to McDonald’s because I don’t want you to get in trouble.’”

But she said her son was already at the restaurant.

“He was like, ‘I’m coming in.’ So I came in. I heard them saying stuff to me, so he was like, ‘You all gotta back off my mother.’

Again referring to the worker later shot, Fulmore said: “My son said, ‘come outside’ to the boy in the back.”

The employee did not exit the restaurant at that point and Fulmore said she then told her son to just leave “because I didn’t want him to get in trouble”.

“So I’m thinking my son was gone,” she said. “I’m thinking it was over because my son left the store.”

According to Fulmore, 10 or 15 minutes later the male worker came over to her asking: “Where your son at?”

She said she told him her son left and to mind his own business.

“He went looking for my son,” she said. “The next thing you know, maybe like 10 minutes later, you hear a gunshot. So I ran to the door. I said, ‘Who’s shooting?’”

She said someone replied, “Your son.”

“I looked, and I saw a boy on the ground, and then I saw my son running the other way. I called 911 and then I sat there and waited.”

When asked if her son had a gun, Fulmore said she didn’t know, adding, “I don’t even know if my son did that,” referring to the shooting.

“The only thing I know is that my son was arguing with the boy and the boy did go out looking for my son.”

She said the victim changed his shirt at one point, “and he had something under the blue shirt, that’s why he put the big blue shirt on”.

Law-enforcement sources said the victim had no prior arrests and there was no indication he was carrying a weapon when he was killed.

But Fulmore, referring to the critically injured worker, said: “There was no reason for him to go outside looking for somebody. Whatever happened outside, you caused that to happen.”

Fulmore’s son is in police custody but has not been charged in the shooting.

He has been previously arrested several times, including for grand larceny in 2019 and assault and theft of service in 2018, police sources said. He also has numerous sealed arrest cases, they said.

Additional reporting by Larry Celona and Kate Sheehy

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission

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Telstra launches new bundle mobile plans

Telstra launches new bundle mobile plans

Telstra has announced a shake-up of its mobile plans that target families with multiple services.

The new bundle plans are available to customers with at least one service on an eligible ‘upfront’ mobile plan, with individual SIM cards that allow for additional devices.

Customers are able to add up to five of these new bundle plans to their existing accounts to connect kids’ smartphones, tablets or mobile broadband hotspots.

Watch the latest News on Channel 7 or stream for free on 7plus >>

The new $47 mobile bundle plans come with 15GB of data, and unlimited standard national calls and texts.

A $10 data bundle plan gives you 10GB of data and is suitable for tablets and hotspots.

This article contains affiliate links, whereby 7NEWS.com.au may earn a commission if you click on a link – at no extra cost to you.

Telstra inks five-year deal with Microsoft

Telstra and Microsoft have signed a five-year agreement they say will help accelerate Australia’s digital transformation.

The deal is also one of the largest partnerships Microsoft has established with a telecommunications provider globally.

“Our strategic partnership with Microsoft is on a scale not seen before in Australia,” Telstra CEO Andrew Penn said in a statement on Tuesday.

As pressure grows on existing networks from remote working, high-definition streaming, online education and gaming, more bandwidth is coming.

Telstra will become Microsoft’s largest supplier of its network capacity requirements on terrestrial fiber in Australia, while Microsoft will become an anchor tenant on Telstra’s new ultra-fast intercity fiber network.

Microsoft technology will be used by Telstra to pitch new solutions for the manufacturing, retail, agriculture, utilities and finance sectors.

Telstra and Microsoft have also pledged to support hybrid ways of working and to reduce the environmental footprint as the Australian economy goes digital.

The deal accelerates Telstra’s migration of its internal information technology workloads to the public cloud, with Microsoft Azure as a preferred partner of the telecom giant’s ‘multi-cloud’ approach.

Microsoft will also explore increasing its capacity on Telstra’s Asia-Pacific subsea cable network.

Through these investments, Microsoft says it will be able to achieve unparalleled connectivity across key telecommunications routes in Australia and across the Asia-Pacific region.

Microsoft and Telstra will work together over the coming months to finalize the expanded partnership.

– with Marion Rae, AAP

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Can the ‘millionaires factory’ continue its bumper run of profits?

Can the 'millionaires factory' continue its bumper run of profits?

Main products: Services including fund management, investment banking and retail banking.

Keyfigures: Chief Executive Shemara Wikramanayake, Chairman Glenn Stevens.

The bullcase: Macquarie has a reputation in financial markets for under-promising and over-delivering. So, some bulls, such as Atlas Funds Management chief investment officer Hugh Dive, are not particularly worried about the softer conditions facing the bank.

Dive has been tracking the company’s outlook commentary for years, and points out that when the bank gives downbeat guidance, it often goes on to beat expectations.

He concedes the company probably would not repeat last financial year’s record profit of $4.7 billion, but is confident it has enough diversification in its businesses – and global footprint – to weather a changing economic environment.

Jefferies’ veteran banking analyst Brian Johnson says the global trend towards decarbonisation is another strength for Macquarie, which is a major global financier of renewable energy.

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Johnson believes Macquarie could still be a “multi-bagger” – a stock that generates returns of more than 100 per cent.

“We still think MQG could be a multi-bagger over the next five to ten years, given its cross-divisional earnings leverage to global energy decarbonisation,” Johnson says in a research note to investors.

The bear case: There is just one analyst at the major brokerage houses covered by Bloomberg with a negative view on Macquarie shares: Credit Suisse’s Jarrod Martin, who has an “underperform” rating on its shares.

Martin says Macquarie is a “great business,” but rising interest rates could be less conducive to the rapid profit growth the company has enjoyed in recent years. Martin says the company has benefited especially from emerging asset values ​​and volatile commodity markets, but these conditions may not continue.

“They’ve had a purple patch with lower interest rates and volatility in markets, which means that their earnings have been super-charged. We don’t think that will continue in the near-term,” Martin says. “When you’re trading on a multiple premium to your global peers, we think there’s a relative downside to the share price.”

Martin has estimated “normalised” earnings would be 27 per cent below those of the past financial year, and he has a share price target of $150, compared with Macquarie’s price this week of about $178.

  • Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.
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Flying electric aircraft by 2024 a realistic timeframe for short-haul trips, insiders say

A side picture on a plane sitting on a runway

It might seem ambitious, but passenger airlines could be using electric aircraft for short trips within two years, an aviation expert has said.

It comes as Rex Airlines announces plans to trial the emerging technology by 2024 on selected regional routes.

“The technology is working. It’s been proven in trial flight, and we can do a lot in two years,” Aviation Projects managing director Keith Tonkin said.

It is not just Rex making the switch to electric.

Across Australia there are several other airlines and aircraft manufacturers working towards a similar goal using a number of different aircraft.

“There’s some companies in Australia that are really heavily involved in the battery charging systems and infrastructure elements of the technology,” Mr Tonkin said.

A light plane in a hangar
Some plane operators are already using electric propulsion technology.(ABC News: Elicia Kennedy)

Driven by environmental concerns

Like many other recent technological innovations, the current push towards electric is being driven by environmental concerns.

“There’s a worldwide effort towards reducing carbon emissions from all aircraft operations, which contributes about 2 per cent of the world’s carbon pollution,” Mr Tonkin said.

But there are hurdles to overcome before reaching that future. Foremost is passenger perceptions around safety.

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Hyundai, Kia and Toyota new-car stocks improving

Hyundai, Kia and Toyota new-car stocks improving

After months of stock shortages and surging new-car prices, there was some good news for buyers today, as some of the biggest brands appear to be getting on top of supply issues.

More than 84,400 new cars found a home in July, a slight increase on the Covid-19 lockdown affected month the previous year.

Hyundai, Kia, Toyota and Mitsubishi all showed strong growth in July compared to the previous year, as stocks of popular models improved.

Utes and family-focused SUVs were the strongest performers last months.

The Toyota HiLux ute was the best selling vehicle in the country with 6441 examples finding a new home. It was followed by the Ford Ranger, which found just 2934 buyers. Ranger sales are expected to skyrocket in the coming months, though, as a new model has just landed in showrooms.

Family-focused SUVs filled the next places on the sales chart.

Toyota’s RAV4 (2437), Mazda’s CX-5 (2346) and Hyundai’s Tucson (2186) rounded out the top 5.

Sales of the Kia Sportage were up more than 200 per cent for the month and the Hyundai Tucson grew more than 72 per cent on the back of improved supply.

Australia’s love of big four-wheel drives and utes continued with the Toyota LandCruiser (2146), Isuzu D-Max (1930) and Mitsubishi Triton (1879) all making the top 10.

The Toyota Corolla (1982) was the only hatchback or sedan to make the bestsellers list, showing the monumental change in Australia’s buying habits in the past 10 years

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief, Tony Weber, doesn’t think the market is out of the woods yet.

“Vehicle and component manufacturing operations remain affected by plant shutdowns caused by Covid-19. Logistics, including shipping, remain unpredictable,” said Mr Weber.

“While small growth on the same month in 2021 is encouraging, we do not expect the supply of vehicles to Australia to stabilize in the near future.”

“Once again Australia is following the global trend of demand for new vehicles exceeding supply,” he said.

European brands such as Volkswagen and Skoda have been particularly hit hard, with sales down about 40 per cent for the year. Luxury marques such as Lexus and Mercedes-Benz are also struggling.

Mitsubishi Australia boss Shaun Westcott said the supply and semiconductor unpredictability wouldn’t end any time soon.

“The world is in a very unpredictable phase at the moment, which extends beyond semiconductor supply and these things will resolve themselves eventually. But we are talking about three, four or five years,” said Mr Westcott.

He also said that the increased prevalence of electric cars and plug-in hybrids, which require three to four times more semiconductors than petrol cars, was crunching supply even more.

“Every car maker has supply chain issues – a five or six month backlog. So not only is there the backlog to recover, there is also a surge in demand as more EVs and PHEVs are built,” he said.

“There is a catch-up game that is going to take a number of years to play out here.”

Tesla is showing how outside factors are affecting its supply. In the past three months the American electric car maker has sold about 200 vehicles after shipments from its Shanghai factory dried up due to Covid-19 closures.

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Online brokerage company Robinhood lays off almost a quarter of its staff

Online brokerage company Robinhood lays off almost a quarter of its staff

A US online trading platform, which experienced a boom in customers during the pandemic, has slashed its staff by 23 per cent after being hit by the cryptocurrency market crash and record inflation.

It’s the second round of staff sackings for the company called Robinhood, which laid off 9 per cent of its 3,900 employees in April.

Yesterday’s announcement saw the company shed 23 per cent of remaining positions — about 815 jobs — meaning the company will have sacked more than 1000 employees in a matter of months between the two rounds of redundancies. Roles in operations, marketing and program management the most impacted by yesterday’s decision.

Robinhood was embroiled in the Gamestop controversy early last year when Reddit renegades and amateur investors blew up the share price of the brick-and-mortar video game retailers, but this momentum has failed to continue.

Robinhood’s chief executive Vlad Tenev said that letting go of 9 per cent the workforce in April to focus on “greater cost discipline” for the organization “did not go far enough” in a blog post on the company’s website.

“Since that time, we have seen additional deterioration of the macro environment, with inflation at 40-year highs accompanied by a broad crypto market crash. This has further reduced customer trading activity and assets under custody,” Mr Tenev said.

“Last year, we staffed many of our operations functions under the assumption that the heightened retail engagement we had been seeing with the stock and crypto markets in the Covid era would persist into 2022.

“In this new environment, we are operating with more staffing than appropriate. As CEO, I approved and took responsibility for our ambitious staffing trajectory – this is on me.”

Last year, Robinhood grew from 700 roles at the end of 2019 to nearly 3,900 by the first half of 2021, but its 2,022 cuts take its total workforce down to 2,600.

Mr Tenev said staff would receive an email and Slack message with their employment status after the company wide meeting announced the redundancies on Tuesday.

He added the cuts were a “painful decision” and meant the company would be “parting ways with many incredibly talented people”, although staff would be given the opportunity to remain with the company until October 1.

Robinhood also revealed its second quarter results which showed its monthly active years plunged to 14 million down by 34 per cent from a year earlier.

Revenue also plummeted by a whopping 44 per cent to $US318 million ($A461 million).

Robinhood became a trading phenomenon during the pandemic as it offered an easy to use, mobile first platform and in the second quarter of last year it boasted more than 21 million active users who were keen to trade crypto and meme stocks.

But with lockdowns in the past, revenue tied to customer’s trading dropped 55 per cent in the latest quarter to $US202 million ($A292 million).

The company has also been slugged with a $US30 million ($A43 million) fine from the New York State Department of Financial Service for alleged violations of anti-money laundering and cybersecurity regulation in its cryptocurrency trading unit.

A global tech bloodbath has seen a spate of companies laying off staff.

In Australia a crypto company called Immutable, which valued at $3.5 billion, is facing a fierce backlash after sacking 17 per cent of its staff from its gaming division, while continuing to “hire aggressively” after raising $280 million in funding in March.

Meanwhile, Australia healthcare start-up Eucalyptus, which provides treatments for obesity, acne and erectile dysfunction fired up to 20 per cent of staff after an investment firm pulled its funding at the last minute.

Debt collection start-up Indebted sacked 40 of its employees just before the end of the financial year, despite its valuation soaring to more than $200 million, with most of the redundancies made across sales and marketing.

Then there was Australian buy now, pay later provider Brighte, that offers money for home improvements and solar power, which let go of 15 per cent of its staff in June, with roles primarily based on corporate and new product development.

Another buy now, pay later provider with offices in Sydney called BizPay made 30 per cent of its redundant workforce blaming market conditions for the huge cut to staffing in May.

Earlier this year, a start-up focused on the solar sector called 5B Solar, which boasts backing from former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, also sacked 25 per cent of its staff after completing a capital raise that would inject $30 million into the business

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Queensland family criticized after requesting two rubbish bins

Queensland family criticized after requesting two rubbish bins

A large family that produces too much rubbish for one general waste bin every week has been shut down by locals after claiming they “deserved” an additional bin.

The household in Townsville, Queensland, was quick to receive push-back after a member took to a local community group arguing “the council should give every home two red bins”.

“Because let’s face it, how many people every week struggle to fit their rubbish in the bin?” the man wrote in his post about him.

“Especially a bigger family! And why not? We are all taxpayers so I think we deserve it.”

Townsville City Council issues households a 240 liter waste and 240 liter recycling bin, with households given the option to pay for additional bins.

While it was unclear just how many family members occupied the home that claimed to need another bin, there were few people that supported their cause.

Of more than 300 people to respond, most encouraged the family to consider how they could reduce the volume of waste they produced before applying for another bin.

“I think if you’re filling more than one bin in a span of a week you definitely should be trying a lot harder to be more eco friendly and reduce you’re consumption of plastics,” one person wrote in a comment.

“You need to try and recycle more and buy less plastic and other wasteful items. More than happy to drop some print outs of what goes in each bin and tips on recycling and reducing your waste in your mailbox if you’d like,” someone else said.

Others offered up information on measures the family could adopt to reduce the amount of waste they needed to put in their general waste bin.

“As a household with three adults, we have found that knowing how to recycle, compost and collect soft plastics has eliminated almost all our household waste,” one wrote.

They added their red bin only went out for collection once a month with “a handful of items in it”.

“While I appreciate that different age groups may have different waste needs, there are strategies to cut down/out waste for these too,” they said.

Someone else pointed to how expensive and harmful landfill was, arguing “we all need to create less landfill and recover our waste better”.

“You can compost or worm farm your kitchen scraps and garden waste at home, and with a lot of packaging waste going into the yellow recycling bin there should be very little rubbish going into the red bin,” they wrote.

Massive cost of landfill

About 1500 Townsville households are currently partaking in a trial of the Food Organics Garden Organics (FOGO) bin program, which prevents organic matter from going into landfill.

The trial will continue until October 2022, after which it may be rolled out on a permanent basis, as is the case for 43 NSW councils and four suburbs in the ACT.

According to a Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts report, the cost of disposing of waste to putrescible landfill is estimated at between $42 and $102 per tonne of waste in urban areas and between $41 and $101 per tonne in rural areas.

A Canberra mum shared with news.com.au last year how she avoided putting her general waste bin out for collection for 40 weeks.

She revealed the subtle changes her family made that saved up to 5600 liters of waste from leaving their house and getting dumped in landfill.

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