Green waste site being misused again by a few

The small site at the back of the car park at the centre operates with an ‘honesty box’.

It was set up by Skipco to give people who cannot get to the waste site at Chouet the chance to get rid of their green waste for a fee of 80p per bag or £1 for a one-tonne bag.

When the green waste site opened at Chouet after the lockdown, Skipco’s small site had to wait a little longer for Le Friquet to open.

‘The first time we came back we were really disappointed to see how much general rubbish had just been dumped in the area and lots of green waste had been tossed on the ground where the skips usually go,’ managing director Janice Queripel said.

‘We’ve had problems before with commercial waste, massive plaster boards, even a sofa just being dumped.’

There is now concern that Skipco will not be allowed to take green waste from Le Friquet to Chouet because all too often there is too much general waste thrown in as well – and the company is not allowed to sort it before it gets dumped.

She said the few who are not following the rules are ruining it for the many.

There are also problems with people dumping their waste and not paying.

‘Some argue that they wouldn’t have to pay if they took it elsewhere, but depending on where you live you’d spend your 80p on petrol going out to Chouet to dump it for free and driving back to, say, St Martin’s.

‘There are a lot of people who give us feedback that they really appreciate having the skips here. They find it really beneficial – especially because we put more out on Sundays and bank holidays or when the green waste site is closed,’ she said.

The locked honesty box has also been broken into ‘countless’ times and Skipco staff have watched people dump bags and not pay.