Export of Guernsey's waste is 'preferred option'

The current waste strategy, of dumping waste into the ground, is due to last until 2022

Guernsey States is being asked to approve the export of the island's waste.

The Public Services Department has recommended export ahead of heat treatment or making the waste into a fuel, which would then be exported.

It said all three options included a high priority being given to moves to reduce waste and increase recycling.

The department said the report was expected to go before the States in February 2012.

The three options were developed following a public consultation programme and all include increasing the target for recycling for all waste to 70% by 2025.

Public Services said all three also included separate food waste collection and treatment, kerbside recycling and a materials recovery facility to extract recyclable material from commercial waste.

It said its preferred option was export, either to Jersey or another location, with the other two proposed options being heat treatment in an incinerator, gasification or pyrolysis plant, or a further stage of treatment to produce a fuel product, which would be shipped off-island.

Public Services Minister Bernard Flouquet said: "Last year the States decided that we had to rethink how we deal with our waste, from top to bottom.

"That is what we have done, and the proposed strategy that we will put before the States will represent a comprehensive approach to the issue of waste management, with the priority being on reduction, reuse, and recycling."

Public Services has sent a draft of the proposals to the parish douzaines and other statutory consultees so their views can be incorporated in the final proposals.

The draft plan does not include costings of the different options, but these are due to be outlined in the final report.

The States has previously rejected the idea of exporting waste specifically to Jersey on at least three occasions.

The report will be the third waste strategy in 14 years to be debated by the States.