Mount Isa City Council are still hoping to open their new recycling plant around March, though the planning is not happening as fast as they would like, according to Mayor Joyce McCulloch.
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Cr McCulloch was answering a question asked by Barry Byrne in the public forum part of Mount Isa City Council’s meeting on Wednesday.
Mr Byrne asked what was the current status of the recycling program, when did council expect it to be fully operational.
Cr McCulloch said they were finalising the operational arrangements for the recycling plant, which will be located at the Mount Isa City Council landfill site on Jessop Drive, 1.8km from the Sunset Cemetery.
“Recycling waste in Mount Isa has always been a difficult one no matter what council, because of the high costs,” Cr McCulloch said.
“This council is still working on a plan on exactly how the recycling is going to work and we’re a little bit behind the eight ball on that, but we are still looking at the March timeframe (for opening).”
In December Cr McCulloch said a $300,000 grant from the Queensland Government’s “Works for Queensland” initiative had funded construction of the new facility.
“The recycling centre will allow a large variety of waste streams to be sorted and recovered, greatly reducing the amount of material currently being buried in landfills,” she said.
“Consistent with the Queensland Waste Avoidance and Resource Productivity Strategy and council’s Waste Reduction and Recycling Plan, we want to cut back the volume of material just thrown away and extend the life of existing landfills in the process.”
There will not be a kerbside pick but people will be able to drive in and unload recyclables at designated collection areas.
“The recycling centre will be able to handle a range of materials including metals, paper and cardboard, e-waste, mobile phones, gas bottles, engine oil and much more,” Cr McCulloch said.
“At present it is not economically feasible for Council to introduce a kerbside recycling collection service and we are not planning a green waste sorting service at this stage.”
At Wednesday’s meeting Cr McCulloch said the National Retail Association were in town a day earlier to speak to retailers about the plastic bag ban and they were putting out a Queensland-wide tender to host a recycling hub for plastic bottles.
Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
