General News
25 June, 2025
EDITORIAL: Recycling decision proves costly
Mount Isa City Council is in a financial hole as a result of the Materials Recovery Facility.
The actions of three people will continue to haunt Mount Isa City Council for years to come.
The course of the city’s history was changed two years ago when a motion was put forward to go ahead with the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF).
So far, that vote has cost ratepayers around $15 million, but that figure will continue to rise.
The recycling plant will continue to drain about $2 million from the council coffers each year – both in operational costs and depreciation – while the return for selling the recyclable product appears to be minimal when high transport costs are factored in.
Monday, May 8, 2023 should be seen as a dark day in Mount Isa’s history. Six councillors were present for the special meeting, with one (Mick Tully) unable to attend.
When it came to the vote on whether to push through with the MRF, despite the costs already known to have blown out well past the initial $6 million quote, three councillors voted against it.
They did this knowing it would have cost ratepayers about $3 million, as the council had already ordered equipment for the plant.
The councillors who voted in favour of pushing ahead were: George Fortune, Phil Barwick and mayor Danielle Slade.
The councillors who voted to kill the MRF were: Peta MacRae, Kim Coghlan and Paul Stretton.
In the end, Cr Slade used her casting vote to approve the project.
“Council conducted a comprehensive assessment of various options, including doing nothing,” Cr Slade said at the time.
“The assessment took into account the financial, environmental and economic aspects of kerbside recycling and establishing a MRF in Mount Isa.
"These included the financial exposure to the council of terminating its MRF equipment contract, the federal government grant funding it has received for the facility, and the state government’s waste levy being imposed on the council if it does not move to recycling.
“We know that the Mount Isa community wants to recycle, and the vision is that Mount Isa will become the hub of recycling for the North West.”
Now complete, the MRF ended up costing $21 million to construct and equip.
About $6 million of that was covered by a federal grant.
Yet, Mount Isa is still subjected to a ridiculous waste levy, costing ratepayers about $1.4 million each year. Next door, Cloncurry Shire Council is not subjected to the same levy, nor is any other council in the North West or Central West.
The only councils paying a waste levy are on the coast, or in the south-east corner.
This masthead is pro-recycling, but it is not in favour of throwing away money.
The previous council should have demanded that the waste levy be withdrawn by the state government in order to even consider pushing ahead with the MRF.
This state-of-the-art facility has become a noose around the neck of the city.
The decision by those three councillors was baffling then, and it continues to baffle now.