Discussion meeting on waste management

The Policy Centre held a discussion meeting on waste management on 4 December 2025. 50 people participated - representatives of businesses, charities, government, the States Assembly and people interested in the subject. The meeting was chaired by the Centre’s Senior Adviser, Sir Mark Boleat. Opening comments were made by Jennifer Bridge, the Policy Centre’s lead researcher on waste management, and Lisette Jones, Head of Environment and Climate Policy, Government of Jersey. Some basic data about Guernsey’s approach was provided. There was then an open discussion.

Summary of comments by Jennifer Bridge

• Jersey has 13 waste management authorities: 12 parishes and the government. Ten parishes provide kerbside recycling, while St. Clement and Grouville rely on residents driving to waste banks. The ten that provide kerbside recycling run three different systems, making Island-wide messaging impossible.
• Our recycling rate is lamentable at 35%.
• The Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) reaches end of life in ten years. The two main options are replace it at around £250 million or implement pay-as-you-throw and export waste for processing, like Guernsey. Island Energy want to install an Anaerobic Digestion Plant to produce biogas and bio fertiliser. This could complement either option.
• There’s a persistent myth that there's no point recycling because everything gets burnt. There are many businesses in Jersey actively involved in recycling: cans, bricks, car batteries, computers, cooking oil, pallet boards, textiles, timber, and more.
• Newport City in Wales has a household recycling rate of 71.45%. They have shown how system design can drive behaviour change without pay-as-you-throw. At the heart of the Newport system Is a 40-year-old social enterprise whose stated aim is to combine environmental protection and social inclusion. Wastesavers runs kerbside recycling, reuse shops and repair services, and provides community education.
• For the parishes that provide kerbside recycling, the logical next step would be reducing residual waste collections to two-weekly then three-weekly like Newport. That would force people to take a closer look at what is put into bins and be more diligent about recycling.
• We need to decide whether we want to decommission the ERF at its end of life, whether there's appetite to support a social enterprise like Wastesavers, and whether there's political will to ensure post-2036 infrastructure locks in low residuals rather than complacent combustion.

Summary of comments by Lisette Jones

Waste is “a wicked problem”, that is difficult or impossible to solve for the following reasons:

• Incomplete or contradictory knowledge
• The number of people and opinions involved
• The large economic burden
• The interconnected nature of these problems with other problems.

The utopia is the lowest possible waste generated per capita, high recycling rates, net zero emissions from residual waste disposal which takes place on Island, no hazardous residues produced, no net cost to taxpayer and the community engaged and supportive.

Utopia is hard to achieve for multiple reasons including a small economy, high costs, distributed responsibilities, myths and misunderstandings and the impact on daily lives.

We need three changes –

• Agreement on the change we want to achieve by when
• An economy where it’s easier and cheaper for people to generate less waste and recycle more
• An economy where it’s harder and more expensive for people to not recycle / reuse and just ‘throw things away’.

How do we facilitate these changes?

• Get community engagement and buy-in
• Achieve political agreement and commitment of resources to delivering the change
• Put in place the required legislation to support the changes
• Invest in long term infrastructure improvements
• Change how the costs of waste disposal are met.

The situation in Guernsey

Household recycling rate: Guernsey 68%; Jersey 35%

Per capita general waste Guernsey 118kg; Jersey 348kg

Guernsey’s approach -

• Two-year extensive consultation process
• Legislation directing parishes on waste collection
• Unified island-wide messaging
• Free kerbside recycling collection
• Charging for general waste.

Comments made in general discussion

• Guernsey’s process was difficult. Education was an important part of its process in persuading people to change behaviour.
• Guernsey did not have an ERF facility so had to consider alternative ways of dealing with their waste. Jersey offered to take Guernsey’s waste, but tribal issues came into play.
• We have to make it easy for people to recycle. Guernsey, for example, has just one bag for dry recycling.
• A project in London achieved 100% diversion from landfill - required a fully integrated waste management process.
• The 2000 Landfill Tax in the UK gave local authorities an incentive to invest in alternatives.
• We import a lot of plastic waste in packaging; we could try to reduce this. In the UK a new law will increase tax on plastics but there is nothing that businesses can do when plastic arrives here. It is not viable for a business to take on the responsibility for recycling.
• Failing to recycle is a harm to others – like smoking.
• We don’t have facilities to deal adequately with food waste; much of the waste that goes into the ERF is food, which is moist. Increased use of Anaerobic digestion could reduce burning of waste.
• Parishes think they run an efficient collection service, but people are not recycling as much as we would like. However, others think the present system of each parish having its own system is inefficient. Parishes should work together to reduce collections and increase recycling.
• The Government is working on a solid waste strategy. Education will be key. Children understand the issues and can help to educate their parents.
• Recycling can be more difficult for people in flats. However, Guernsey’s experience was that initially compliance problems were not in flats.
• Changes tend to be met with criticism, but everything settles down within a few weeks.
• Jersey will struggle to meet its ambition to be net zero by 2050 if it has an ERF plant.

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