A WORKSHOP was held last night, one of many, to help formulate the island’s revised waste strategy. It formed part of a much wider consultative process in which an impressive 66 individual stakeholder groups have been identified and whose views will be sought in arriving at a solution that is acceptable politically and to the wider community.

As such, this will be one of the biggest exercises in government by consensus because Public Services knows that neither it nor the island can afford to have another grand scheme rejected at the  last moment.

Having decided last time around that it need only to convince 47 States members – then to be tripped up when islanders made it clear to deputies which way they wanted them to vote – the department has decided its best strategy is a group hug with the electorate to see what they want.

Or, if that doesn’t provide a clear-cut answer, what solution it can come up with that will trigger objections from the smallest possible number of protesters and still get through the States.

Whether that process is able to produce the best solution for Guernsey remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that the evaluation criteria PSD is to use will steer the process down a rigid prevention, reuse, recycling, recovery and disposal path which has consequences for islanders, homeowners and businesses.

If, for instance, preventing waste in the first place is key, then an import tax and a consumption tax are no-brainers irrespective of the damage caused to the rest of the economy. And while there is a strong green lobby, its supporters generally do not live in St Peter Port bedsits where five recycling bins and a wormery aren’t possible.

Similarly, while the Vale Earth Fair Collective and the Green Man Motorcycle Club both have valid views, what weight should be given to them over, say, La Societe Guernesiaise and the Guernsey Football Association?

Wide consultation is one thing, but it runs the risk of upsetting all those whose views are not adopted.
Irrespective of process, deputies have a duty to act in the public interest and that means taking tough decisions – not delegating them.