Guernsey's building industry 'needs land' to recycle

Materials at the Grand Bouet development are being sorted and resized before being reused

The building industry has been deterred from recycling by a lack of facilities and land, the Guernsey Building Trades Employers Association's president said.

Clive Fennar said that 95% of material at the Grand Bouet housing redevelopment was being recycled in what was a great model for the island.

However, he said the facilities there were not available to roll out.

Mr Fennar said there was also no strategy to encourage developers to recycle construction waste.

He said: "It's not just about having space, it's about having the will and the infrastructure to make it happen.

"If we as an island should decide the waste strategy we are going adopt is going to be based upon recycling then I think it's important the three players, the States, the construction industry and the waste professionals, get together.

"I'm confident the strategy could be formulated that would enable a similar sort of process to occur as is happening at the Bouet."

For the Grand Bouet development, everything from the old housing was sorted or broken down into component parts using a machine put in place for the work, with a some being crushed or resized to allow their reuse in the new buildings.