Visitors to the cemetery will have to take general waste, dead flowers and wrappings away with them for at least the next six weeks, after which the trial will be reviewed.
The Parochial Cemetery Committee said it had taken the decision reluctantly because it was faced with increased costs for disposing of the waste in the bins, as well as having to sort the contents, and wanted to try to restrict any further increases in parish rates.
Maintaining and providing the cemeteries costs the parish more than £80,000 a year, with £55,000 coming directly from ratepayers via the constables.
Vale Parochial Cemetery Committee president Denise Cohu said that rising costs had become apparent following an annual inspection of the cemetery this month. They were driven in part by the quantity of waste left.
‘It was suggested that we remove the plastics bin and leave the green waste bin, but the majority of the committee voted for a total removal,' she said.
So far the committee has received two queries about the decision, one questioning why it was made and the other being a complaint.
‘If we get a deluge of complaints in the next few weeks, then maybe we will reconsider, but so far those two comments are the only two we have received.
‘We don’t believe it is too onerous a task for people coming to the cemetery to take the small amount of waste they might have home with them.
‘We are appreciative of people’s understanding.’
Enquiries of other parishes indicated that cemetery bins were not a great drain on their finances and removing them was not under consideration at the moment.
St Martin’s senior constable Dave Beausire said that the amount of rubbish that accumulated in the parish’s cemetery only amounted to half a bin to a bin each week.
‘It’s about £150 a year. Between several thousand residents it’s pennies to everyone,’ said Mr Beausire.
‘Saving a few quid by getting rid of something like that isn’t going to make or break the parish, so we certainly don’t have any plans to remove any bins.’
In St Peter Port, senior constable Diane Mitchell said the douzaine was not thinking about getting rid of bins located in Candie Cemetery.
‘You’d get stuff chucked all over the place otherwise,’ she added.
Torteval senior constable Becky Link said the parish cemetery’s bin was emptied once a week by a gardener and added that there were no plans to remove it.
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