Islanders Could Be Charged To Recycle

Putting out a blue or clear bag could cost around 25p as Guernsey Waste tries to stem losses in excess of £1 million a year.

Financial predictions for the Waste Strategy to be self-funding have proved wildly inaccurate, with the operation losing between £1.4 and £1.8 million pounds a year.

Islanders' enthusiasm for recycling is partly to blame, with less waste being chucked away and more recycled.

The States set a 70% recycling target for 2030, but that was reached within a year of the "pay as you throw" scheme being introduced.

That means revenue from the green and orange black bag stickers is about 25% less than expected.

The States Trading and Supervisory Board looks after Guernsey Waste on behalf of the States. Its president, Peter Roffey, says the funding system is flawed:

"We have a strategy that aims to reduce the amount of waste that we generate as a community. At the same time, we rely on that waste being produced to meet a significant proportion of the costs that we incur in managing the island’s waste and recycling. No other commercial operator that we are aware of would be actively looking to prevent its primary source of revenue.”

As a result, STSB is publishing a Policy Letter with proposal for funding waste.

Charging what could be around 25p per blue and clear household recycling bag is coupled with a suggestion for above inflation increases in sticker charges for the next three years, and a commitment from the States to fund any shortfall in Guernsey Waste through central revenue.

There is no proposal to charge householders for their food waste or glass recycling.

Deputy Roffey says something has to be done:

“At the outset, there was an expectation that the combination of the sticker charge and the annual charge would raise enough for the system to be self-funding. However the strategy has already been so successful, and islanders have embraced the new arrangements to such an extent, that has not been the case so far and we do not foresee it becoming self-funding in the foreseeable future,”

The money received from commercial waste is also down on initial forecasts, so this will be reviewed, along with household collections.