AS many Islanders, both inside and outside the States, have observed, it would make a great deal of sense for Jersey and Guernsey to co-operate more extensively and, where possible, to share resources. Our two communities might be separated by 20 miles of sea, but they clearly have a great deal in common and many shared interests.

Against this background, there is underlying logic in the idea that Guernsey should export its waste to our shores so that it can be incinerated in the new energy-from-waste plant which is now taking shape on the reclamation site at La Collette. Such a practice would relieve Guernsey of the expensive business of building its own new incineration facility, would raise revenue for our exchequer and would also increase the energy output of our new plant.

There are, however, other issues to be considered before any deal is struck with our nearby neighbours.

To begin with, even in a state-of-the-art plant, incineration does not mean that waste is disposed of completely. Gases go up the chimney and into the atmosphere and an ash residue that may contain many harmful chemicals remains to be disposed of. How convinced are we that we want to cope not only with our home-generated pollutants but also those from across the water?

If we were to process the neighbours’ waste, nothing beyond the standard ‘scrubbing’ processes could be done about chimney emissions, but it is possible to conceive of an arrangement through which ash was sent back to Guernsey for disposal there. Indeed, two-way sea traffic with waste coming in and ash going out might prevent a ship making one leg of the journey with nothing in its hold.

That said, the economics of this elaborate operation would have to be looked at very carefully. In the long term, Guernsey might well be better off in financial terms to bite the bullet and build its own new incinerator.

There is, meanwhile, the matter of access to La Collette. It would surely be essential for money to be spent on berthing facilities on the reclaimed area close to the energy-from-waste plant – perhaps in the tanker berth already in use at the west of the site. The alternative of using trucks to convey containers from St Helier Harbour to the plant would, quite simply, be unacceptable.