John Durie: Waste removal business Bingo pleads guilty to ACCC’s price fixing charges

Bingo Industries, now under new ownership, has pleaded guilty to criminal cartel charges brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) alleging price fixing in the waste removal market.

Bingo is a waste management company that provides landfill, waste processing and skip bins services throughout New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

Aussie Skips Bin Services and Aussie Skips Recycling are Sydney-based waste management businesses that supply skip bins and waste processing services for building and demolition waste respectively.

Macquarie Bank paid $2.3 billion for Bingo last year and the guilty pleas mean former boss Daniel Tartak will be left to fight personal criminal cartel charges.

After the acquisition, Macquarie installed Chris Jeffrey as the new boss.

The ACCC statement said: “Waste company Bingo Industries has today (Tuesday) entered pleas of guilty to criminal cartel offences relating to price fixing for demolition waste services in Sydney.”

“It is alleged that in mid-2019, Bingo agreed with its competitors Aussie Skips Bin Services and Aussie Skips Recycling to fix and increase prices for the supply of skip bins and the provision of waste processing services for building and demolition waste in Sydney.

“Bingo’s former managing director and CEO, Daniel Tartak has also been charged with two criminal cartel offences.

The guilty pleas represent a significant victory for the ACCC, which has had a mixed record since winning the right to take criminal cartel cases back in 2009.

It dropped the land mark investment bank cartel case last year in which present ACCC boss Gina Cass-Gottlieb acted for the immunity witness JP Morgan.

She noted this week working with whistle blowers and detecting cartels was a significant part of the ACCC’s job.

“When companies arrange to fix prices, they usually do so to increase their profits, and it is consumers that pay the increased cost,” said Cass-Gottlieb.

“We are committed to detecting and investigating serious cartel allegations and taking appropriate action against those who are a party to illegal cartel behaviour, including referral of matters to the CDPP.

“Cartel conduct not only frequently impacts consumers, but it can also significantly harm competing businesses and the economy more broadly.”

Tartak ran Bingo from 2015 after taking over from his father, Tony, who started the business with just four trucks. When it was sold to Macquarie last year the family maintained a 20% stake worth $460 million.

In 2018 the business acquired Dial a Dump from Ian Malouf for $578 million in a deal cleared by the ACCC.

Former ACCC boss Rod Sims, who cleared the Bingo-Dial a Dump merger, has urged for tougher laws to stop mergers, arguing Australian industry is too consolidated.