‘I hope States are ready for fly-tipping nightmare’
CONFUSION over what the new waste charges will actually mean for householders has grown since the States voted on the matter on Thursday.
The new ‘pay as you throw’ system, which will be introduced next year, will see black bags of rubbish costing £2.50 each to dispose of.
All households will also have to pay a standing charge of £85 to the States – that is on top of what they are already paying the douzaine to collect the waste.
But on social media, islanders were unsure what it would mean for them.
Bryan Collenette questioned what the £85 charge would be for?
‘Will they be doing away with paying rates now?’ he said.
But Mark Anthony helped to clarify the position.
‘There will also be a collection charge levied by the parishes. Hmm. Sounds like we continue to pay what we do today plus £85, plus, say, £260 if you put two bags out a week.’
Jane Rider had other questions.
‘I put my sticker on, what happens if it blows off in the middle of the night? Will they still collect bag? Wouldn’t it be much easier to have had a different coloured bag that we had to buy? Questions, questions questions.’
Kerrie Adams added: ‘Do they not specify the size of the black sack? If not, you can buy the huge wheelie bin sacks which fit at least three times the amount as standard-size ones, or are they going to have the monopoly on black sack sales also?’
Brenda Le Huray said: ‘Who pays the yearly charge for people on pensions, invalidity and supplementary? A large amount of these people won’t be able to afford this – will the people on supplementary get this paid for as they do for doctors and dentists – which pensioners don’t get.’
And Sheila Torode also had a question.
‘If we want to take our rubbish to the tip ourselves do we have to pay the £85 charge?’
Matthew Mollet added: ‘Hope the States will be geared up for dealing with fly-tipping. I live on the outskirts of Town and can see it becoming a nightmare.’
A States’ Trading Assets spokesman said parishes would continue to levy a charge, but this would only be to cover the cost of the waste and recycling collection.
‘This will be different to the current refuse rate, because it will no longer include disposal costs and it will be a flat rate per household, instead of being based on the TRP value of a household’s property, as it is at present.
‘The actual charge may vary from parish to parish, depending on the price they have negotiated with their collection contractor.’
He said the stickers had a strong adhesive, so once attached to a bag they would not come off.
‘We did look at having different sized bags but that does have certain disadvantages, particularly in terms of producing what inevitably would be small quantity rolls, given the cost per bag, and the additional shelf space this would then require would increase our costs.
‘Stickers are therefore currently the preferred option but it would be very easy to move to a coloured bag system at any point in the future.’
The intention was to have two types of sticker.
‘The standard one will be for bags of up to 90 litres, which is the size of a standard dustbin. Larger bags will not be permitted. The other sticker will be for bags of up to 45 litres.’
Islanders who were in receipt of income support would receive some assistance.
The £85 charge, which the States would levy, was to recover some of the costs incurred in sorting, processing, export and treatment of waste and recycling, he added.
