It's not too late to change waste strategy for better
I REFER to your editorial in the Guernsey Press of Saturday 17 December – and agree it is still not too late to do a U-turn with our waste plans. It is obvious to all but the politicians responsible that Jersey wants and indeed needs our waste to ensure the efficient running of its incinerator. It is also obvious that to move Guernsey's waste the short distance across the sea to our sister island must be the most sensible option, both from a financial and an environmental perspective. There is a further incentive to avoiding formal exporting of waste to a foreign country and that is the need to build an expensive white elephant called a transfer station at a cost which has been indicated to be as much as £30m.-plus. That cost would, of course, increase dramatically when you take into account the costs of running the plant itself.
Why cannot we quite simply have our waste lorries, complete with their black bag cargo, drive onto a ship at 4am, or whatever time they finish their collections, and the ship then takes them and their cargo to Jersey where they drive off, tip their load directly into the incinerator hopper and do the return trip empty. That would avoid the need for the expenditure of £30m. plus and would release the land at Longue Hougue where the development was to take place for other purposes.
The above scenario is perhaps simplistic, and there would be problems to overcome, but it is doable and an awful lot more cost-effective than the existing plan which, while it has been many years in the making, simply does not make sense.
It is all very well for the politicians who have responded to my many letters and emails to say, 'We have talked long enough, it is now time for action'.
Yes indeed, but the right kind of action. Our political masters are giving a very strong impression that they have had enough of waste and want to put it to bed, whatever the errors in their thinking.
It is not too late. Think again and get it right.
GERRY TATTERSALL,
Le Petit Bois,
Sausmarez Road,
St Martin's.
