New waste system to cause problems

What do you do? It’s your birthday, you have had lots of bouquets? When they are finished, where do you put them as they are starting to smell?

You have a house pet – rabbits, hamsters, mice, birds, where do you place the old straw bedding? Cage liners, puppy training pads, etc.

In the UK black plastic is recycled but not in Guernsey. What are you going to do?

States of Guernsey, this is only a few items at this time, there will be more. States of Guernsey, you need to go back to the drawing board.

I tried for a week the collecting of food waste in the caddy box and after a few days the smell was seeping through, imagine a big family’s waste. This will attract flies, maggots, etc. We are all different in our approach for cleanliness.

Look out in the future for blocked drains, pipes, etc. as people will use their toilets as a food waste disposal unit.

NAME AND ADDRESS WITHHELD

Editor’s footnote: Richard Evans, deputy managing director of States Trading Assets, replies:

As the new collection arrangements begin shortly, and affect all island households, it may help more of your readers if I start by addressing some of the points raised more generally.

With regard to bouquets, flowers are organic material so small amounts can go into the food waste bins that we have provided households with. One caveat to that is these containers are not intended for general garden waste, in the sense that they are not large enough for most gardens and we prefer to keep that material separate and deal with it on-island, as is the case now. The occasional bunch of freesias mixed in with some veg peelings and tea bags etc. isn’t going to do any harm, but larger quantities should go to the household green waste site at Chouet. Alternatively they can go in with general refuse (i.e. black bags).

That general advice applies whether someone is living in a flat or in a larger property. Having too many flowers would be a nice problem to have, but I have every confidence that if faced with that challenge, most households will be able to work out what to do with them – in the same way they deal with other challenges on a daily basis (most are probably not waste-related).

As for pets, if they consume only a plant-based diet – for example hamsters, gerbils, rabbits – then straw, newspaper or bedding made from wood shaving can be composted at home or can go into general refuse. For someone who doesn’t have a garden, then the only option is the bin bag. However, if we are pet owners, we are responsible for producing this waste so we have to also accept responsibility for dealing with it.

Cat litter needs to go into general refuse, but owners need to be careful not to overfill bags to the extent the bin men cannot easily lift them (if they can’t pick them up they can’t take them away). Similarly, dog waste needs to go in with general rubbish, and we would kindly ask owners to consider the collection crew and the staff at Longue Hougue, and avoid putting out bags made up entirely of dog poo. Those are genuinely unpleasant to deal with, and they would really appreciate it if dog waste is mixed in with general waste, as most currently do.

Incidentally if islanders have noticed a reduction in dedicated dog waste bins around the island, this is the reason. These are being phased out, and in their place the general waste bins can be used for dog poo bags.

On a more palatable note, your correspondent is incorrect to suggest black plastic is generally recycled in the UK but not here. We are not aware of any authority in the UK which is currently able to recycle black plastic, but don’t take our word for that. The following extract is from a recent report by consumer magazine Which?:

‘Think twice about buying food in black plastic containers. While technically recyclable, pure carbon-black plastic is not picked up by the infrared sorting machines at UK recycling facilities and is rejected.’

With regard to separating food waste and smells, as with most other elements of the new collection arrangements, we are not doing anything that is not tried and tested elsewhere. We have provided equipment to every household to deal with these different materials, and those will in themselves go some way to alleviating any issues regarding smell and storage.

However, as far as separate food waste collection is concerned, if anything we are well behind a lot of other places, including the UK and other European countries. Weekly collection of this material is probably standard in most of these other places, and by introducing this service now we have an opportunity to deal with it in a more modern, sustainable manner.

Granted it is change, and sometimes that presents challenges that we need to work through.

Again, all households still have the opportunity to dispose of food waste along with their general refuse, but will have to accept this will entail some additional cost to them.

We would strongly discourage anyone from considering disposing of waste food via the toilet – or for that matter using sink disposal units. If anyone wants to understand why this is a particularly bad idea, they can go on the internet and search for ‘fatberg’. Put more simply, flushing food waste down the toilet can leave you with serious (and unpleasant) blockages that may affect you and your neighbours. It is not recommended.