Council Awards Construction Contract for MRF
Mount Isa City Council has today decided to award the contract for the construction of a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), and to introduce kerbside recycling on 1 July 2024.
The MRF contract is for the construction of the MRF building, civil works, entrance road re-alignment, and the installation of a new weighbridge, and will be awarded to Strategic Builders Pty Ltd. The proposed MRF will comprise a materials processing facility, staff offices, and a multi-purpose education space.
It is designed to process kerbside recyclables from residential solid waste, select commercial and industrial waste, and certain materials, including cardboard, some metals and Container Refund Scheme containers, such as glass and plastic bottles and aluminium beverage cans.
In 2019, Council received $6.06 million in funding from the Federal Government’s Building Better Regions Fund to design and construct the MRF. The detailed design was completed in August 2022, and Council issued a public tender for the MRF’s construction in October 2022.
Council decided to go ahead with the construction of the MRF and to introduce kerbside recycling (yellow-top bins) in mid-2024, after a thorough due diligence process.
“Council conducted a comprehensive assessment of various options, including doing nothing. The assessment took into account the financial, environmental and economic aspects of kerbside recycling and establishing a MRF in Mount Isa,” Mayor Danielle Slade said.
“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.
“Last year we outsourced our waste collection out to JJ Richards, and the main motivation for this was they would be able to collect waste from Cloncurry and this would put Cloncurry in a position where they could potentially recycle at our future MRF in Mount Isa.
“It makes good economic and environmental sense to go ahead with this project and bring this service to Mount Isa for the first time. We have a financially sustainable roadmap to ensure the impact on ratepayers can be minimised.
“While I’m disappointed that we had one Councillor unavailable for today’s momentous decision, I am confident the Council has made the right decision for Mount Isa’s future.”