The States of Guernsey are to bring in direct charges to householders and some small businesses in 2016 to cover the cost of collecting, transferring, and processing recyclable material and residual waste.

The charges are reportedly needed to cover the costs arising from the states’ move away from a landfill-based waste system, to one that also incorporates recycling. Guernsey introduced a kerbside recycling service earlier this year, which was funded centrally from general revenue (such as tax), but it now argues that changes are needed to ‘minimise the long-term costs of dealing with waste’.

As such, the current charging system, where householders are charged depending on the size of their property, will be changed to incorporate the ‘fairer, polluter pays’ system, where those who produce the most residual waste pay the most.

Charge details

In February of this year, the States of Deliberation (Guernsey’s Parliament, commonly referred to as The States) accepted a number of recommendations from the Public Services Department on the implementation of a solid waste strategy for the island, including plans to allow parishes to implement an annual fixed charge per household as well as a charge per waste bag (both residual waste and recycling).

Small businesses (those with no more than 10 employees) will also be allowed to opt into the household collection service, subject to conditions as to the volume and type of waste that they could put out for collection, and the discretion of the governing bodies.

Examples of the proposed charges have now been unveiled, following a meeting of The States last week (10 December).

Although no actual charges have yet been approved (as they depend on 2016 contract rates), the meeting document outlines that the charges to householders could be thus:

• a fixed Parish Waste Rate of around £68 per household to cover collection charges (based on evenly spreading the estimated £1.6 million needed to cover waste collections across the 23,800 property owners in Guernsey);
• a charge of between £1.50 and £2 per residual waste bag;
• a charge of 50 pence per recycling bag; and
• an additional charge if there is a shortfall in income from bag sales.

The States outlined that the cost of a bag for residual waste should be higher than the cost of a bag for recyclable material ‘so that there is a clear link between the amount of residual waste a person generates and the cost to that individual of dealing with it’, and to encourage residents to recycle more.

If these charges are approved by The States, it is estimated that residents would be paying around £213 a year on waste services, nearly double what they currently pay. However, actual costs are likely to vary from parish to parish, depending on the cost of its waste collection contract in a particular year and the actual number of home owners (and owners of participating businesses in that year) in each parish.

With regard to the collection of food waste, it is expected that the public will be provided with a food caddy free of charge, which can be lined with compostable material such as newspaper.

Penalties

Despite concerns that the new system could negatively impact those on low incomes, the parliament argues that as the current arrangements only take into consideration property size, some people pay ‘above average refuse rates simply because of where they live’, but under the new system, ‘all households will have greater control over how much they pay’. Further to this, once the weekly food waste collections begin, it is expected that residual waste arisings should fall (perhaps to just one residual waste bag a fortnight), thus contributing to lower costs.

Households will have to put their waste and recycling out for collection in specially-manufactured ‘official bags’, bearing a ‘distinctive authority design’, which will be made available for purchase from local retailers.

Anyone not using the correct bags, or placing residual waste in recycling bags, will not have their waste or recycling collected, and could receive fines if the behaviour persists.

For example, in the first occurrence, bags will be stickered to inform households as to why the bag was not picked up, a repeat occurrence will lead to a warning notice being issued to the occupier outlining that failure to comply with the requirements (within a specified period) will result in a fine, and on the third occurrence, a fixed penalty notice will be issued. This will amount to £40 if paid within 14 days of receiving the notice, rising to £60 if paid after.

However, The States outlines that ‘given the firm intention to change behaviour by way of education’, it is ‘unlikely that large numbers of civil fixed penalties will be issued’.

Residents will have the right to appeal any penalties issued to the Parochial Appeals Tribunal.

Find out more about Guernsey's waste disposal charging plans.