Tuesday 26 July 2016
Kerbside recycling collections will continue after further funding for the current service was confirmed.
Policy & Resources Committee has agreed a request to continue the scheme, at a cost of up to £1.3 million to the end of 2017. The money will come from waste tipping charges at Mont Cuet.
Bags will continue to be provided for free, and there will be no charge for households to use the service. As now, collections will be arranged by parishes, but the costs will be covered by States Trading Assets.
A spokesman for States Trading Assets said the extension was welcome news, and would help make further advances in recycling.
The current interim scheme was introduced in 2014. In its first year, an additional 420 tonnes of paper, cardboard, tins, plastics and cartons were collected, as well as an extra 50 tonnes of glass. Overall, the increase is equivalent to the weight of around 40 London double-decker buses*, or three million copies of the Guernsey Press**.
Based on a participation study carried out last year, around 75% of households are estimated to be regular kerbside users
"Since the kerbside service was introduced, more islanders have been recycling than ever before. As a result, the amount of household waste ending up in landfill has fallen significantly. That is really important because at the moment we need to reduce the material going to Mont Cuet, to extend the remaining life.
"Given the contribution that kerbside recycling has made, we were confident there was a sound case for continuing the service. However until we were able to confirm its future it was more difficult to fully promote it. Now we can do just that, and that will help to build on the success to date."
Last year, trial glass collections were also carried out in areas of St Peter Port, to assess whether this could be included in the final kerbside scheme. This proved successful, but any extension is unlikely until post-2017, when the full, permanent collection arrangements are introduced.
That could also include separate collections of food waste, with this material subsequently exported for a specialist type of energy recovery.
These options for future waste and recycling collections are being considered as part of the full business case covering all different elements of the waste strategy. That is expected to be considered by Policy & Resources Committee later this year.
The current interim kerbside scheme was originally due to end in March this year. An initial six month extension was agreed earlier this year, within the original budget, to continue until September 2016.
Highlights:-
- First 12 months of kerbside collections gave a 470 tonnes boost in recycling.
- Kerbside collections account for 70% of all tins and cans, food and drink cartons, and around 60% of paper recycled.
- "Black bag" waste going to landfill has reduced by more than 900 tonnes a year since the introduction of kerbside.
Facts and figures:-
* The iconic Routemaster double-decker London, weighs 7.5 tonnes (source: wikipedia). This classic vehicle entered service with London Transport in February 1956 and the last were withdrawn from regular service in December 2005. 470 tonnes would be equivalent to 62 of these classic vehicles. The more modern New Routemaster - the latest standard London double decker which entered service in 2012 - weighs 12.65 tonnes (source: wikipedia). This heavier but less well known model has been used for the comparison, giving a conservative figure of approximately 37 buses per 470 tonnes.
** Six copies of the Guernsey Press (including Half Time and Motor Festival supplements) from Wednesday 20 to Tuesday 26 July 2016 weighed 840g. Based on this average weight, 3.35 million copies would weigh approximately 470 tonnes. Based on 310 editions annually, 3.35 million would provide around 10,000 local households with a copy of the Guernsey Press six days a week for a year.
