Recycling
Help your island reduce, reuse, recycle
- Reducing, reusing and recycling our rubbish - why is it so important?
- Reducing your household waste
- Real nappies - the real alternative to disposables
- Hints and tips - Reuse and Repair
- And buy recycled
- Recycling routes
- Recycling bring banks
- Waste Recycling Facility
- Managing our commercial waste
- Information Line
- Milk Cartons
- Polystyrene Recycling
- NEW! - Recycle your Fluorescent Tubes / Low Energy Light-Bulbs
- Other Plastics
- Frequently Asked Questions
Reducing, reusing and recycling our rubbish - why is it so important?
Mont Cuet, Guernsey’s only landfill site, is filling up quickly and it’s estimated it will be full in 2020. Over 15,000 tonnes of household waste were dumped in 2009 and we need to reduce all our waste - household and commercial - so that Mont Cuet can remain open as long as possible.
The domestic recycling rate for 2009 was 36.5%. However, this was affected by a fire at the green waste site which rendered some of the material collected unfit for composting. Without this, the rate would have been even higher - approximately 39%.
Residents have, therefore, shown that they’re keen to recycle. However, to minimise the amount of rubbish going to Mont Cuet we need to think about all three R’s – Reduce, Re-use and, finally, Recycle.
Reducing the amount of rubbish we generate is the best way of dealing with it and it could save you money in the process. Remembering to choose items with least packaging and refusing carrier bags when we’re out shopping is easy when we get into the habit and is the key to cutting down on our waste.
Re-use as much as possible – repair shoes, furniture and clothing, and avoid disposable ‘single-use’ items.
Recycle as often as you can and as much as you can. There are ‘bring banks’ at recycling sites throughout the Island where householders can deposit cardboard, glass bottles and jars, aluminium drinks cans, food tins, cardboard, paper, plastic bottles and clothing/household linen. The bring banks are for residential use only, so if you run a business please contact the Public Services Department for advice on how to recycle your commercial waste.