Guernsey's food waste can be shipped off island again

Tuesday, 13 May 2025 07:05

After three weeks, Guernsey's food waste processing plant is back in action.

On 21 April, a technical fault at Longue Hougue meant the food processing plant stopped working.

Without the machine, domestic and commercial food waste could not be separated from the plastic collection bags and then turned into a shippable liquid for exportation.

Guernsey Waste reported that piles of decomposing waste were building up, and it intended to send 150 tonnes to landfill as 'a one-off contingency measure.'

Engineers worked on the machine, and food processing resumed yesterday (12 May).

In the end, around 90 tonnes of food waste was sent to Mont Cuet, but Guernsey Waste says that as it works through the stockpile, this amount could increase.

Operations Manager, Sarah Robinson, says work has begun on clearing the backlog.

“After the fault to our processing equipment, the decision to landfill some of the decomposed waste was necessary to prevent issues with future processing and to ensure we had the capacity to continuing accepting deliveries of food waste.

“During that time, every effort has been taken to keep the amount of food waste landfilled to a minimum.

"The team from States Works, who manage the site, have done a fantastic job managing the backlog and limiting the amount landfilled to under 100 tonnes so far.

"Some of the oldest remaining food waste may still need to be landfilled if it is deemed unsuitable for processing. However, that will once again be kept to a minimum.”

This is the first time since the facility was set up in 2019 that the on-island preparation of food waste for off-island anaerobic digestion has been interrupted for this length of time.