The competition and consumer watchdog has taken J.J. Richards to court, alleging the private waste management company entered into contracts that are unfair to small businesses.

This is the first case brought under the new unfair contracts regime, which started in November last year and prevents businesses from entering into "unfair" standard contracts with small businesses. A standard contract can be unfair if, for example, it allows only one party to terminate or vary the contract but not the other.