Alderney is considering sending waste to Jersey
WHERE Alderney’s States decides to send its rubbish is a matter for them, said the deputy MD of States Trading Assets after it emerged that Alderney is looking at exporting its black bag waste to Jersey.
If it comes about, the move will see Alderney paying £90,000 to Jersey, which will also benefit by being able to power an additional 100 homes by burning the rubbish in its energy-from-waste incinerator.
The States of Alderney currently provides various waste services, such as household collections, recycling facilities, and a drop-off for bulky items. Any material that is not recycled is sent to Guernsey for disposal at Mont Cuet.
Under Guernsey’s new refuse handling system, Alderney would continue to be charged per tonne, but it now appears that the island has decided to switch to Jersey as a recipient for its rubbish. Alderney would pay for shipping and £150 per tonne to cover processing costs.
A statement from Jersey’s Infrastructure Department said that Alderney had asked Jersey for its help in dealing with rubbish. ‘This is an opportunity to support our neighbours and for the islands to work together,’ said Infrastructure minister Deputy Kevin Lewis.
‘It is also an opportunity to generate both income and electricity, and to get greater value from the investment that we’ve made in our EfW plant by using some of its spare capacity, all by simply accepting one extra trailer of black bin bags per week.’
Before Jersey can accept the waste, its States must accept a proposal to import refuse into the island.
This reflects one of the issues that was highlighted when Guernsey was looking at destinations for its waste two years ago – Jersey’s bid was beaten by Geminor UK, which will ship the island’s waste to Sweden.
‘Ultimately, where the States of Alderney send their waste is a matter for them,’ said States Trading Assets deputy MD Richard Evans.
‘Jersey acknowledge they still require political approval before they can import any waste, which does highlight a significant issue that existed when they tendered to receive our waste, and which has not yet been resolved.
‘In that sense, the fact they are looking to address that now is a positive development in terms of when our current export contract is due for renewal.’
Mr Evans said that the department has been talking to Alderney States for some time about waste management once Longue Hougue’s new transfer station is up and running. ‘We recently tested delivery of a container to the new facility, which resolved one potential technical issue, and we have provided them with a gate fee for accepting their waste in future,’ he said.
‘One of our technical staff is due to visit them shortly to look over their waste and recycling systems and provide suggestions on how they can improve, and in particular look at food waste.’
