Waste momentum will stall again if dithering continues, by Nick Mann
BY THE end of this year the island is meant to hit a 50% recycling target – it won't.
BY THE end of this year the island is meant to hit a 50% recycling target – it won't.
Latest data from Public Services, released shortly after it announced that an island-wide kerbside recycling trial would start in March, shows the rate has stalled at around 46% and has done so for some time.
The figure is arguably symbolic – some say a more meaningful measure is the amount of rubbish going into the tip – but much is made of it, even by the department itself that emblazons it on its waste trucks.
Consultants and the department say the only way to hit the targets endorsed by the last States in 2012 – 50% by 2013, 60% by 2018 and 70% by 2025 – is for kerbside and food waste collections to work.
Debate on how to deal with the island's waste has rumbled on since the Board of Administration days.
It has taken us through the Lurgi incinerator, a redesigned Lurgi incinerator, the Suez waste plant and now on to export.
There has always been an underlying drive to reduce dramatically the final amount of rubbish that needs to be disposed of – and an equal frustration that the States has not just got on with that part a lot sooner.
Each time there is momentum behind one strategy it stalls – and public enthusiasm wanes.
Which is why the kerbside announcement, and what follows, is so important.
At the moment there is a vacuum as to what comes next – that vacuum will be filled very soon.
The department has to report back to the States on any policy and legislative changes, as well as full costings, of hitting the targets set for waste minimisation and prevention.
The States will also debate where the remaining waste will be sent for treatment from five shortlisted options, whether to Jersey or Europe.
With a competitive market offering good rates for the European option, it will be interesting to see if Jersey comes out as the favoured choice.
Its Transport and Technical Services department indicated in its 2013 business plan that taking Guernsey's waste would net £1.5m. a year from 2015.
This figure was also included in Jersey's medium term financial plan, which described the solution as cost effective for both islands.
When quizzed about how likely a deal was, the Council of Ministers stated that both Jersey and Guernsey States needed to agree, as well as regulatory authorities.
Nothing is yet set in stone.
When the debate on the export option happens early next year, the States will re-enter that period of uncertainty.
There will always be those that argue Guernsey should deal with all its rubbish on-island, that it has the ability to do so and that there is a lack of security in export.
The costs will come under severe scrutiny, especially given how much variance there has been in the past.
Earlier this year PSD faced a backlash after the capital costs of the export option shot up from an indicative £3.4m. in the approved waste strategy to £24m. now – the department said it was offset by a significant fall in the cost that will be paid to whoever takes Guernsey's rubbish.
Public Services has been guilty of some other mixed messages as its thinking on the waste strategy has evolved.
For example, it moved from a centralised kerbside scheme to one that has parish involvement, for now at least.
The new waste strategy will eventually impact on all households.
At the moment the department is taking things step by step – for example the kerbside trial is voluntary with no penalties for not taking part.
So there is no stick.
And there is no real carrot due to the lack of a scheme where you pay in proportion for the amount of rubbish you throw away – something Public Services has said it is investigating.
Instead it relies on islanders' own environmental conscience – something that will not get it beyond the 50% target let alone 75%.
That it got to 46% shows how much some people really do care – the trip to an exposed bring bank site littered with potholes and blown rubbish is not everyone's idea of a fun day out.
Food waste collections is another fundamental impact on daily life which remains on the horizon, but not fully explained at the moment.
It will also all inevitably cost more money than the current set up.
Throughout this the department is faced with the task of managing expectations.
It has an ambitious strategy, it is now entering that crucial stage where the wider public really engage as the reality of what they need to do bites.
