St Helier votes to delay recycling plan
Thursday 1st October 2009, 2:56PM BST.
The meeting voted to delay the scheme that was proposed by the Constable, Simon Crowcroft Picture: ROB CURRIE
CONTROVERSIAL proposals for kerbside recycling in St Helier suffered a setback last night after parishioners voted in favour of delaying the scheme.
Earlier this year, St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft announced plans to introduce kerbside recycling of card, paper, tin and plastic from homes across town.
Under the proposals, the number of refuse collection teams would be reduced from seven to four, with the surplus staff being used for the recycling scheme. It would cost £192,000 to introduce, but would be no more expensive to operate than the current collection scheme.
Union officials have voiced concern over the plans, saying that there has been a lack of consultation with staff. They argue that the plans would result in fewer crews left doing the normal rounds, with insufficient time to complete their work, and that workers would be left doing unpaid overtime on a regular basis.
At a parish assembly at the Town Hall last night, parishioners voted by 37 to ten in favour of delaying the introduction of the scheme to allow for further consultation with staff.
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A word of caution about recycling schemes. In many locations in the U.K. where recycling has been introduced fly tipping has increased by up to 20%.
The more difficult the authrorities make it for people to get rid of their waste, the more likely it is people will be tempted to get rid of their refuse inappropriately. I recommend that the authorities in Jersey look at the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science study on fly tipping.
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Edna, you’re totally right.
Recycling is easy, if it is made easy! Parts of Aberdeen have it totally spot on and their recycling rates are fantastic, but the council invested first and let people get used to it before reducing the number of ordinary collections. In fact, it’s so easy that when I come back to Jersey after just a week in Aberdeen, I find myself separating my rubbish (at source) and then realising there’s nothing I can do with it.
It will always struggle to work in flats and someone needs to come up with something innovative to help flats recycle.
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Err, 37 + 10 = 47. Does that mean that 47 of the total number of people living in St. Helier voted?
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Welcome to the world of parish level democracy Flymo.
If the bin men had turned up with a few friends and relatives it would have been sufficient to get that result.
I have known parish meetings where interested parties turned up with their mates to vote through what they wanted.
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Recycling is only a good idea if the onward processing of the appropriate volume of “Product” has been properly planned. Otherwise all you are doing is creating a massive stockpile of potentially problematic rubbish in places ill designed to handle it!
That backfires into a reluctance on behalf of the contractor to collect it which in turn leads to sorted roadside rubbish becoming a semi permanent feature before disposal by the householder. There is therefore temptation for some unscrupulous operators to contract to clear the backlog and fly tip, but more likely vast stockpiles of unprocessed materials will build up on randomly selected and possibly unsuitable sites, (Such as the one that caught fire in St Peter’s not so long ago).
I still say the whole business of re-cycling,incinerating,and sewage treatment and disposal would be far better handled for all concerned if the final processing was dealt with at a regional level,with a site or sites big enough to deal with the problems on an ongoing basis.
With recycling that means room to stockpile “Product” when demand for it falls without creating an ecological or environmental health problem.
The best place site wise is mainland France where the appropriate transport facilities are already in place, and there is enough room for processing Plant of sufficient size to deal with what is going to be a growing problem.
Locally processing would involve preliminary sorting and shipping out,sewage disposal requires a large sub sea pipe!
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