50% recycling target 'achievable by 2016 elections'
RECYCLING half of Guernsey's waste should be achievable by the 2016 elections, the Public Services minister has said.
Speaking after the quarterly waste report showed the overall impact of the department's flagship kerbside recycling scheme had nudged the recycling rate ahead by 0.4% to 47.2%, Paul Luxon was confident that half of all waste – which has thus far eluded the island – would not be going to landfill by election time.
'I would really, really hope that we would.
'There is no reason why we cannot get these numbers to move forward.
'The whole point is that we burst through the 50% rate, which has stubbornly hanging hung there for years. The whole reason for these targets is to demonstrate as an island we can get to a good place sustainably.'
The waste report showed that in the three months to the end of June a 79-tonne reduction in what was being sent to landfill was recorded, with parish waste collections down almost 9%.
Recycling half the waste produced in the island was due to have been achieved by the end of 2013, 60% by 2018 and 70% by 2025. Deputy Luxon said initiatives due to come online about over the coming year would increase the figure.
