Mount Isa's Mayor has cast doubt on whether the council's container exchange would re-open, with the facility needing to resolve several issues.
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The exchange at Mount Isa's refuse facility was opened in 2018 and but closed temporarily in March due to the COVID outbreak and has not re-opened.
At the time Council said the decision was in the interest of the public and Council employee safety and was in line with government safety recommendations.
Cr Slade accepts the facility was enormously popular with the public but Council had a big decision to make whether it should reopen.
"There are a couple of things we need to fix before we can reopen and if we can't fix them that might make the decision for us," Cr Slade said.
"The big red flag for me is that we are losing a lot of money running it. We had it open 10 hours on Saturday and Sunday we were losing quite a bit of money on that."
Cr Slade said she wanted the facility to at least break even.
She also said there were two safety concerns, one being its popularity has led to traffic jams around the facility.
"The other safety issue is the amount of cash at the facility, we are turning over a lot of cash which is not ideal," she said.
"Also we are finding a lot of sharp objects."
Cr Slade all these issues needed to be fixed before re-opening.
"The other thing that is on our mind is that there is a private company doing the same thing," she said.
"During COVID private businesses need all the support they can get and we are very mindful us being closed is helping them."
You can still drop off containers in Mount Isa at Mt Isa Metal Recyclers on Duchess Road.
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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.
