From Mr and Mrs D Moody.
On visiting the Scrutiny panel’s recent exhibition at the Town Hall, we were greatly impressed with the alternatives to Jersey’s planned incinerator at La Collette.

There are waste disposal plants that are successfully running in the UK and Eire that the States could investigate with reference to using in the Island. If necessary, these could be provided with just a small incinerator.

We were impressed with how much rubbish each parish has to dispose of and how much it costs; also how much tonnage of materials is shipped into the Island, and how much less tonnage is shipped out – indicating that articles could be returned to the UK for recycling at a reasonable cost, as the ships have to return to the UK, and firms would pay Jersey for the recycled products.

So if each parish had a recycling depot, articles could be pooled into a shipping consignment, and they would be paid for the material. St John and parts of St Helier are currently having just such a trial, and it seems to be going well.

Recycling would greatly minimise the need for a huge incinerator – our bin of waste is only one or two carrier bags now.

We saw a scheme by a recycling firm from Cardiff (costing £6m) that takes all clean items, sorts them from special bags, and then sends the items to be recycled to the UK. Another firm showed how they have a digester that takes all food waste, carcasses etc from hotels, hospitals, shops, farms and homes and the digested matter is pasturised clean and dried, thus providing a non-toxic organic fertiliser. After all, a very good fertiliser available to buy is Blood, Fish & Bone!

Speaking with someone formerly from the south of England, we heard that food and green waste were collected every week; and clean waste, ie plastics, tins and cardboard/paper, once a fortnight. This worked well and people were happy to do their bit for the environment.

The architect’s plan of the proposed new incinerator was nothing like the artist’s impression that was printed in the JEP. It was hideous and overpowering and about twice the height of the existing power station. So the ‘gateway to Jersey’ would not be the most pleasant sight to behold.

The cost to resite the fuel farm, decommission the old plant, create new roadways, move the sewage farm and the metal recycling etc and set up the incinerator would be more than £200m. We learned that a similar incinerator in London emits fumes which cause anyone downwind of it to suffer various cancers, illnesses and depression – can we afford to treat more patients in our health service?

Waste would have to be burned continually, there would not be any recycling, and maybe we would have to import rubbish. Oil would have to be used to fire the thing, so a saving of the world’s resources like oil and trees would not be made. We feel that this is extremely short-sighted and selfish. Recycling saves the world’s precarious resources for future generations.
12 Bagatelle Avenue, St Saviour.