Stalemate in island's waste plan

Guernsey wants the rubbish delivered to Mont Cuet

Plans to allow Alderney's waste to be disposed of in Guernsey have reached a stalemate because Alderney says it cannot get rubbish to the Guernsey landfill site in time.

After three months of negotiations, the islands are no closer to making arrangements for handling Alderney's waste.

While the islands' two governments have agreed to the practice in principle it seems the operation is simply too taxing.

Guernsey's Board of Administration says it has to be delivered to the Mont Cuet landfill site by 1630 BST, a deadline Alderney seems unable to meet.

This is partially-rotted, damp and quite obnoxious waste Steve Smith, Board of Administration

Alderney has been restricted in the amount of rubbish it can burn because of winds blowing in the wrong direction over the island.

This is leaving piles of waste at the island's Impot dump.

The island is so desperate to get rid of the waste it turned to Guernsey to help out.

However, Guernsey's Board of Administration is insisting waste has to be delivered to the site by 1630 BST, or else Alderney pay additional costs for staff overtime to keep the landfill site open later.

The board says rubbish has to be disposed of on the same day it arrives at the island.

The Board of Administration's deputy chief executive Steve Smith said: "This is partially-rotted, damp and quite obnoxious waste.

"The Board of Health, as I understand it, has insisted that it cannot sit on the docks overnight. It must go to landfill and buried quite soon after it arrives."

However, it looks at though part of the problem has been inadvertently solved after Alderney's Impot caught fire on Wednesday.

The non-scheduled burn started at around 0330 BST and spread to a nearby hillside.

The fire brigade was able to put out the hill fire but was been instructed by the island's States to leave the Impot to burn and but monitor its progress.

It was kept under control, but fire investigators are looking into the possibility it was started deliberately.