Guernsey Press

False start could waste good will

AFTER decades of dithering, the island is just three weeks from its waste revolution.

Published

Spotless food caddies sit patiently in the corner, sacks rolled up and at the ready, waiting for the onslaught of messy leftovers and those smelly items that did not quite make it out of the fridge on time.

It promises to be a momentous shift, one which some islanders are looking forward to, while others resent the intrusion into their lives.

Nobody knows with certainty how deep the division between those who will adapt to the new scheme with enthusiasm and those who will resist its charms will be.

It may take just a few weeks for the majority to get behind it and move on with their lives, as the island did with smoking and seatbelt laws, Sunday drinking and trading and numerous other once-contentious issues.

It may, however, take much longer.

One thing is certain, there are few people who will enjoy separating an overripe fish or cheese from its packaging before disposal. Perhaps that in itself will prevent food waste.

In that light, it is a pity that, for the first six weeks or so, tonnes of carefully separated food waste is to be reunited with black bag waste at the tip.

Trucks full of food waste and general rubbish that should be heading to different parts of Longue Hougue will instead both go straight to Mont Cuet to join the rest of the waste mountain.

Trading Assets says the delay will give it time to iron out bugs in the system before the new processing plant comes on line towards the middle or end of October.

But in those early weeks, when the PR battle is raging and islanders are realising what the new system entails, it will undercut the States position to admit that the effort taken to separate is, temporarily, pointless.

Given that there will be no charge for black bag waste until the new year the obvious danger is that some islanders will ignore the new system and continue as before, chucking all their rubbish in black bags and refusing to separate at source.

The system may stutter into action on 2 September, but it will be several months before its impact is clear.