GUERNSEY has been getting first-hand insight into how to solve the waste problem.
Yesterday a team of deputies and officers visited an energy recovery facility near Chineham, Hampshire, as well as one near Alton for materials.
Public Services minister Bernard Flouquet (pictured) said the trip was important in finding a solution. ‘It is always useful to gain first-hand information of this nature,’ he said. ‘It is interesting to see how others deal with their waste.’
He has been looking into the issue for several years. I’ve seen many different technologies and they all have their merits. In Guernsey, we have to be careful about what we eventually support as we only have one shot at our solution.’
Accompanying the minister on the trip were deputies Scott Ogier, Tom Le Pelley and Tony Spruce, as well as Alderney representative Bill Walden. Three officers from Public Services also went along.
Deputy Ogier felt the trip had been helpful.
‘Today has helped us to see what is possible,’ he said.
‘I think that in Guernsey, separating waste at home is the logical answer. Here they put all the recyclables in one bag and then separate them, as we saw at the MRF site. If they are separated at home, then they are ready to be processed at no additional cost.’
Hampshire was chosen as a good site to study because, like Guernsey, it is aiming to recycle 50% of its waste by 2010.
Today the group will be visiting a refuse-derived fuel gasification plant in Newport on the Isle of Wight. They will then return to Guernsey to discuss the concepts. Currently, eight companies with a variety of ideas are competing for the island’s waste tender. It is hoped a solution will be before the States by March.
Article posted on 30th September, 2008 - 2.29pm
5 Article Comments
The States is right to carry out detailed research into the future of the Island’s waste management, but did they really need to send EIGHT peple to look at the energy recovery facility in Hampshire?
What is wrong with finding out this information on the internet, or at least sending one qualified official who can report back to the States.
If our Government is serious about tackling waste then perhaps they should look first at their own extravagant spending habits.
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How much did this little jolly cost the tax payer?
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Why do people think that trips like this are a “jolly” ? It doesn’t sound like a fun trip to me ! This is one of the biggest capital projects that we will have invested in to date and I’d far rather see 8 relevant people go on a fact-finding mission to see things for themselves at first-hand than to research it on the internet ! Maybe 8 is excessive, maybe it could have been 4 or 5, but that’s a moot point.
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I suppose they will want to visit the other two ERF facilities in Hampshire.
Mere readers of these pages can see the detail at http://www.veoliaenvironmentalservices.co.uk/pages/pdfs/Chineham.pdf
The question as to why so many went seems valid in times when economies are important.
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So at tonight’s IOD conference/dinner Bernard Flouquet actually said that £10million had been spent on Guernsey’s waste problem and achieved nothing. Is this something to be proud of? The way he phrased it, it was. Apparently Guernsey had the opportunity to share resources with Jersey and make use of their incinerator plant, reducing capital cost to us (and the environmental impacts) but, at the end of the day “we don’t want to be involved with crapauds”. No round of applause for our Minister for Public Services, or, as Peter Sissons so neatly put it “Minister for Waste”.
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