Is the importation of Guernsey’s waste, raising £4m in revenue, congruent to environmentally sound principles and the States strategic aim of improving and sustaining the environment

5.12   Deputy S. Pitman of the Minister for Transport and Technical Services regarding the potential importation of Guernsey's waste:

Would the Minister inform Members whether he believes his justification for backing the importation of Guernsey's waste, namely that it will raise £4 million in revenue for the States, is congruent to any environmentally sound principles and the States strategic aim of improving and sustaining our own environment?

Connétable M.K. Jackson of St. Brelade (The Minister for Transport and

Technical Services):

I have set out within my amendment to P.17 how the potential income from temporarily receiving Guernsey's waste could be invested in developing Jersey's own

recycling infrastructure and increasing Jersey's recycling of waste. This I believe is

an ambition that is entirely consistent with the stated aim of the strategic plan to maintain our quality of life while consuming less and creating less waste. Investing in recycling could enable Jersey to introduce recycling from Parishes not currently undertaking kerbside collections for example, and increasing recycling rates towards the 36 per cent target level agreed by my predecessor and the 40 per cent level to which I aspire. However, I am conscious of all the aspects of any proposed importation being considered fully before I would be willing to put any formal proposal to the States of Jersey for approval and I have set out the many matters that would need to be considered in my amendment to P.17. States Members can be reassured that I would not bring to the House any proposal for importing waste which did not have a clear environmental as well as financial benefit.

1. Deputy S. Pitman:

I have to say that I am absolutely astonished that the Minister for Transport and Technical Services is saying that we can do more recycling if we bring in more waste. Really how can this be environmentally friendly?

The Connétable of St. Brelade :

I am not sure whether the Deputy understands the correlation between recycling and cost, effectively to recycle further there is a tremendous costs. Unfortunately an Island situation dictates that we have to export a lot of the recyclates. Clearly any

imported waste from Guernsey would be purely waste to be put into the Energy from Waste plant so it would not increase the recycling rate in Jersey. I hope that the Deputy understands that answer.

2. The Connétable of St. Helier :

I am astonished but for a different reason than the Deputy who asked the question. Has the Minister forgotten that it was his predecessor that came to this House 2

business plans  ago  to request a dollop of  about £11 million that  the Council  of

Ministers handed themselves to spend on projects. That money was for recycling. Has the Minister also forgotten that part of the cost, the capital cost of the incinerator was to be providing recycling facilities which I gather have been taken out of the plans.

The Connétable of St. Brelade :

We have a £500,000 sum towards recycling and quite clearly it is not enough if we wish to develop, as I indicated in my answer, recycling in Parishes who are not at present. One of which of course is St. Helier. If St. Helier is to come on-line with recycling, which I know they are keen to do, quite frankly we have not got the money

to deal with the recyclates and this is the issue at present.

3. Deputy M. Tadier :

I have 2 questions, if I may. The first one is, is the Minister having a laugh and the second one is, does he think we are stupid? Because I think it is quite obvious that the policy to go down the road of a vastly oversized incinerator is contradictory to the very concept of recycling. We could have had a recycling plant, I am sure the Minister will agree, and it would have been a lot less cost and we could have saved tens of millions of pounds, so it is completely insulting to the Members of the Assembly and the public to suggest that this £4 million first of all will be used for recycling and, secondly, that we are committed to recycling.

The Connétable of St. Brelade :

I have to differ with the Deputy 's opinion on the plant. We have a commitment to recycling. A recycling plant would not work in Jersey per se in the style of the U.K. operations in that it is extremely labour intensive and the sort of labour that is used on the U.K. operations tends to be immigrant labour. We are not in that position, we employ local staff and we anticipate continuing doing that. It is important that we continue to develop our recycling in order to reduce the amount we burn so that certainly by the time this plant comes to the end of its useful life we will be moving on to a different technology, which I certainly look forward to.

4. Deputy M. Tadier :

A supplementary, very quickly. I am glad to know that the Minister has a commitment to recycling. In his capacity as Constable of St. Brelade will he therefore be supporting a kerbside collection for recycling to encourage parishioners to recycle more, as is the case I believe in St. Mary and is currently being put through in St. Helier?

The Connétable of St. Brelade :

Certainly. The difficulty with the larger Parishes, namely St. Helier, St. Brelade and St. Saviour, is the volumes produced are considerably in excess of those produced by the small Parishes. Speaking with my Constable's hat, certainly when the contract for the collection of refuse in St. Brelade comes up for renewal in a year or so time that will formulate part of the tendering agreements.

5. The Deputy of Grouville :

Could the Minister confirm that talks with Guernsey about the importation of their

waste took place with the previous Minister and the President before him?

The Connétable of St. Brelade :

I understand, but I have not got the dates in front of me, there were meetings initially at the outset with regard to a pan-Channel Islands waste disposal arrangement. Those proposals I think foundered and each Island decided to go off on its own tack. Members will be aware of the developments which have gone on in Guernsey over the last few months and our position is that we have simply responded to requests. But, as I have indicated earlier, any proposal to import waste into Jersey would be dependent on the will of this House.

The Bailiff :

The Constable of St. Helier and then final question from Deputy Pitman.

6. The Connétable of St. Helier :

The previous Minister of Transport and Technical Services took absolutely no notice at all of a Parish of St. Helier Assembly decision to request that certain waste disposal practices should be ceased at La Collette. What notice will this Minister take should a Parish of St. Helier Assembly request him not to accept off-Island waste into the incinerator?

The Connétable of St. Brelade :

I am not sure quite what the Constable is getting at in that I am not aware of an issue, an ongoing issue with the Parish of St. Helier and my department. I am keen to curry favour with the Parish and encourage a good relationship with regards not only to waste but obviously the roads development in the Parish. So I am quite happy to discuss any developments with the Parish on an ongoing basis.

7. Deputy S. Pitman:

In the States 5-year strategic plan it aims to implement the reduction of waste, energy use and pollution. Can I firstly ask how does the Minister's justification meet these aims and, secondly, has he consulted upon any of our international agreements, i.e. the Kyoto protocol E.C. (European Commission) directives to see if Jersey will abide by them in importing Guernsey's waste and incinerating it before he brought his amendment to P.17?

The Connétable of St. Brelade :

Clearly the answer to the Deputy 's questions lie in my amendments to P.17 at pages 10 and annexe 2 from the Minister for Planning and Environment. I think the Deputy is trying to pre-empt any decisions which may be made. At this stage we have work to do and my amendment is purely to enable my department to pull the information together and present it to Members so they can make an informed decision.