There's muck – but no brass
GIVEN the extent of the wranglings over what Guernsey was going to do with its waste, now getting on for two decades ago, the result has, remarkably, ended up as something of a success – certainly as far as household waste is concerned.
We were never going to get on with food caddies, the recycling bags were too thin, we were going to see fly-tipping all over the place as people refused to pay for the bin stickers… none of those doom-laden scenarios ever came true.
Islanders have embraced the process, the separation, and regular or irregular trips to the Household Waste and Recycling Centre, which do have that enjoyable cleansing feeling.
The updates and statistics contained in the 2023 Waste Management Report, published earlier this week, make for interesting reading, and does indicate that we, as a community, do still miss the bring banks.
However it’s not all positive.
The bigger picture over inert waste is far from resolved and the cost of the waste strategy financial model – which was intended to break even over a 20-year timeframe – now requires a solid bail out from general revenue, next year set to be in the region of £500,000.
And seeing the Guernsey Waste accounts in the Budget report, alongside the other loss-making States trading entities, is a rather depressing experience, leaving one to wonder if they will ever be capable of washing their own faces financially.