Guernsey waste debate rumbles on

By Ben Chapple
BBC News, Guernsey

The Public Services Department has been asked to produce a third strategy

The States of Guernsey is back to square one on its waste strategy after 16 years of going round in circles on a waste solution.

In 1994 it became clear the island's landfill sites were running out more quickly than expected and the search for an alternative solution began.

Four years on the States decided Mont Cuet would be the last such site.

It decided the best way forward was an energy-from-waste plant, which it hoped to have operational by 2002.

That deadline came and went and all that had been decided was the location of the plant at Longue Hougue in St Sampson.

Exporting waste

In 2003, Lurgi UK was offered a contract to build a £72m facility that would deal with 70,000 tonnes of waste a year.

Deputy Scott Ogier delayed this option by winning a vote in the States suggesting that the plant was too big for the island.

In 2005 his view was vindicated by an independent panel who agreed that the Lurgi contract should be terminated after concluding the proposed plant was too big, would have a huge visual impact and would cost more than similar plants elsewhere.

The cost of the aborted project to the States totalled £3.3m.

In 2006 the option of exporting the island's waste to Jersey and sharing an incinerator was on the table, but the States made the same decision as it had taken in the late 1990s - that shipping rubbish off-island was non-sustainable and threw the idea out.

The States then put out to tender for again and the result was a smaller energy-from-waste plant.

In July 2009 the States agreed to Suez Environment as the preferred tender for a £93.5m plant capable of dealing with 45,000 tonnes of rubbish a year.

Just over a week earlier deputies had rejected the idea of exporting waste to Jersey as too expensive and only a short-term solution. The 10-year plan with prices of £120 per tonne would result in an annual cost to the States of about £5m.

Mounting pressure

There had been some opposition to the Suez plant ahead of the debate, but after the decision a campaign and petition against the incinerator began to gather more support.

Rodney Brouard, who was behind the petition, put forward an alternative solution, which involved using high pressure steam to deal with waste and would cost £20m to set up.

It was the first of several alternatives pushed forward, which included continuing to place landfill in quarries, using gasification technology to turn waste into gas, and exporting waste to Jersey.

In response to mounting pressure by campaigners deputies, led by Deputy Jan Kuttelwascher, called for another debate on the matter before the final contract with Suez was signed.

In the debate, held in the February States meeting, a move put forward by Deputy Mary Lowe to scrap the proposals and start from scratch again were supported.

The Public Services Department, which put forward the Suez Environment plans, was charged by the States to set out another waste strategy.

A new strategy must be put in place before the Mont Cuet landfill reaches capacity.

In November an estimate of 2012 was changed to 2019 after new figures showed that due to the increased recycling of household waste, up to 33% in 2009, the lifespan of the tip would be increased by seven years.