FOR the past 25 years, Griffith family business Griffith Recycling have been doing waste disposal services for the local TAFE NSW site.
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However, the NSW Government have recently stripped them of their contract, opting to use a multinational company instead.
Griffith Recycling owner Russell Rowley says the change could spell trouble for the town, as a reliable local business has been thrown away in favour of outsiders.
"The thing that concerns me is that we've not been approached to tender for this job," Mr Rowley said.
"We've just been informed that our services are no longer required and to pick up our infrastructure and move on.
"The State Government policy on looking after rural businesses and small entities is a fallacy."
Murray MP Helen Dalton weighed in on the change of contract, saying that NSW Government are putting cost cutting ahead of local communities.
"The NSW Government talks about how they want to invest in our regional towns, but in practice, they outsource everything to outsiders," Mrs Dalton said.
"Here we have a great local business performing a service for a long period of time, yet the government have stripped them of their contract in favour of an external provider.
"The benefit of having government services in Griffith is to create local jobs. This decision is a disgraceful slap in the face to our town."
When questioned by The Area News, TAFE NSW responded with a media statement.
"TAFE NSW is aligning our supplier engagements with Whole of Government processes, consistent with other NSW Government departments and agencies," a spokesperson said.
"In line with this, TAFE NSW launched a competitive tender process to procure one service across our more than 140 campuses statewide. TAFE NSW completed the tender process and awarded a contract earlier this year.
"As part of the contract, TAFE NSW required the successful contractor to increase the amount of waste that is recycled across numerous waste streams such as organic waste, timber and metal, and away from landfill.
"TAFE NSW is committed to supporting local suppliers in a more structured and secure way, including opportunities for previous contractors to be engaged as subcontractors."
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