This Is Guernsey

By Joel de Woolfson

100 tonnes of food every week ends up at Mont Cuet tip, according to a Public Services report.

MORE than a third of rubbish in local dustbins is food, a Public Services report has revealed.

An audit of 200 homes’ refuse highlighted Guernsey’s wasteful approach to food, with kitchen organics making up 36% of domestic refuse.

That means that households threw out 5,206 tonnes of food, peelings and scraps last year.  Deputy Public Services minister Scott Ogier said attitudes had to change.

‘We are very wasteful and that is a result of living in a society with so much to spare,’ he said.  ‘The survey on Guernsey households shows there is a great deal of food waste going to Mont Cuet and we need to turn that into something useful. The Public Services Department is looking very carefully at household collections and the possibility of composting.’

Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday called on people to stop wasting food after it was revealed that the UK dumped four million tonnes every year, adding £420 to the average family’s shopping bill.

Each household in Guernsey wastes, on average, four kilograms per week and Deputy Ogier said reducing that was key to meeting waste disposal goals.

‘The three tenets of waste management are reduce, reuse and finally recycle,’ he said.

‘We need to do two things: cut down the amount of food waste and do something meaningful with what is produced.

‘The Guernsey way historically has been not to be wasteful and there are hopeful signs we are returning to our heritage.’

He said islanders should buy what they need – particularly fruit and veg – when they need it.

Buy less, compost what is left over and grow food if you can was Deputy Ogier’s message.

‘PSD composting bins are available at a discount from various garden centres. Contact PSD for more information if you don’t have one. Now is the perfect time to start the composting habit.’

Wasting less would save money and cut down on the environmental cost of production and transport, he said.

Mr Brown said that unnecessary purchases were contributing to price rises of essentials such as bread, milk and eggs.

Ann Robilliard, chairwoman of the Guernsey Federation of Women’s Institutes, said islanders in past decades would not have thrown away food.

‘I can go back to the 40s and 50s and you did not waste anything,’ she said.

‘Today, everything just gets dumped. I try not to because I begrudge the money, but even I throw away more now than I used to.

‘I think a lot that is thrown away could be composted. We need to see more composting done in the island.’

Article posted on 8th July, 2008 - 2.30pm