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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND TECHNICAL SERVICES BY DEPUTY J.H. YOUNG OF ST. BRELADE
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 1st APRIL 2014
Question
Will the Minister inform the Assembly whether, since his election as Minister, he has taken any steps towards, or made any progress whatsoever, in identifying a suitable site in public ownership for controlled sorting of waste from skips by private operators, in fulfillment of the decision of the Assembly on 29th September 2010 which approved the proposition entitled "Recycling of waste materials: identification of suitable sites" (P.97/2010) as well as his predecessor's commitment in answer to a question on 18th January 2011 and, if not, will he explain why he has not given instructions that this requirement is be included in the plans for the proposed new recycling centre on land within the department's management at La Collette?
Answer
I do not believe that it is the role of TTS to identify publicly-owned land for private uses. It is the responsibility for private waste operators to identify their own land-use requirements and either apply for planning permission in the normal way, or gain wider acceptance of their site requirements through the Island Plan process.
The Transport and Technical Services Department is responsible for the Solid Waste Strategy and good practice is to encourage waste prevention and reuse before recycling or disposal. Construction and demolition sites should avoid mixed waste generation and residual waste should not be mixed at the point of generation, eliminating the creation of mixed loads that require separation before recycling and disposal. Planning require site waste management plans for larger developments which support this approach. With good practice of source separation the need for a mixed load sorting facility would be negated.
To incentivise this good practice the Department charges range from £119.99 up to £188.90 per tonne for mixed loads compared with £4.17 per tonne for recyclable inert waste loads. This policy has been effective with mixed loads received at La Collette falling consistently from 22 in 2008 to 2 in 2013.
The continual decline in mixed loads received indicates that the construction industry is reducing mixed loads by separating the waste at source to avoid mixed load charges and increase recycling. This suggests that the need for a mixed load sorting centre has fallen away.