Guernsey aims to export residual waste to Jersey

The island is also targeting a 70% recycling target by 2025, with plans to introduce kerbside dry recycling and food waste collection service for the first time.

The details are contained in a draft Waste Management and Disposal Plan, which the government of Guernsey, known as the States of Guernsey, will be asked to approve next year as part of a revised waste strategy for the island. The Public Services Department is sending out the document to Douzaines, equivalent to UK parish councillors, and other statutory consultees, so that their views can be incorporated in the final proposals.

Currently the island sends 33,000 tonnes of waste-a-year go to its only remaining landfill site at Mont Cuet. But, space is running out and it is currently costing the island 142 a tonne.

The draft plan indicates three scenarios for dealing with the islands waste which includes heat treatment of the waste, incineration or gasification, and turning the waste into a fuel and shipping it off-island. The preferred option, however, is to ship the waste off island to Jersey or another location.

Jersey currently runs an energy-from-waste plant in La Collette, near St Helier, which has the capacity to treat 40,000 tonnes of household and commercial waste every year (see letsrecycle.com story).

Commenting on the proposed plan Bernard Flouquet, public services minister, said: Last year the States decided that we had to rethink how we deal with our waste, from top to bottom. That is what we have done, and the proposed strategy that we will put before the States will represent a comprehensive approach to the issue of waste management, with the priority being on reduction, reuse, and recycling.

Recycling

In a bid to increase its 48% recycling rate to 70% by 2025, the plan indicates that Guernsey may introduce kerbside recycling collections and the development of materials recycling facility (MRF) to extract recyclables from commercial waste.

Guernsey currently do not offer kerbside recycling of any kind but instead run a bring bank scheme where residents can take their recycling. There are eight super sights and 40 recycling sites around the island.

Scott Ogier, public services deputy minister, described the plans as ambitious. These include new targets for recycling, as well as a range of additional measures and facilities that will help to reduce the amount of waste requiring treatment. These are ambitious, but we have to aim high, and while we also have to set realistic timescales to achieve these goals, if we can get there faster we will do, he said.

Guernsey abandoned a project involving SITA UKs parent company Suez Environnement which involved building a 79 million energy-from-waste facility on the island in February 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story) due to concerns about the cost of running the plant and mounting public concern.

Guernsey has its own separate constitution, meaning it is almost self-governing however some legislation must be passed by the Queen in council. The States of Guernsey comprises of 45 members who are locally elected.