Every household rubbish collection truck in Canberra will be fitted with weight scales in a bid to appease driver's concern about overloaded vehicles.
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However, ratepayers won't be forced to pick up the bill, with the ACT government's bin collection contractor Suez paying an undisclosed sum to fit its 32-truck fleet with the technology.
Household rubbish collection across Canberra has been disrupted for the past week after drivers refused to complete last Friday's shift amid fears their trucks were hundreds of kilograms overweight, in breach of national safety standards.
Testing revealed some trucks were carrying more than 6700 kilograms, about 700 kilograms above national limits.
Suez last week made temporary modifications to the vehicles before agreeing to install weight scales in the trucks to allow drivers to monitor loads during their shift.
The safety measure was recommended by the Transport Workers Union, who said drivers faced fines and the loss of demerit points if they were caught driving overweight vehicles.
A Suez spokeswoman on Friday said it would install the weight scales in all of its side-loading collection trucks, at its own costs, over the next two to four weeks.
The spokeswoman would not disclose the cost of the work.
She said the company had been "very proactive" after being made aware of the overweight trucks, advising the ACT government of the problem on September 28 - seven days before the cancelled collection shift.
Suez obtained a permit from the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator to increase weight limits to 6700, and received engineers certification from the truck manufacturer for the temporary modifications, she said.
A spokesman for the ACT government's transport and city services directorate corroborated Suez's version of events, confirming the contractor would cover the total cost of installing the weight scales.
When asked by Fairfax Media whether the government could guarantee the issue would not disrupt household rubbish collection in the future, the spokesman said: "The ACT government is pleased that Suez has worked efficiently and collaboratively to ensure that all collection vehicles are compliant with heavy vehicle standards and continue to provide this core service to the ACT community".
The spokesman said Canberra's household rubbish collection would be back on schedule by Monday, October 15.
