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GUERNSEY RECYCLING DRIVE

With landfill reaching crisis point on Guernsey in the Channel Islands, Deputy Minister Scott Ogier’s drive for more recycling in the States is proving more successful that he imagined. Over the past year over 650 tonnes of waste has been saved from becoming landfill and it looks like this is just the beginning.
What is more the solutions have proved, not only very cost effective, but also very practical. The introduction of the state-of-the-art Longue Hougue Recycling Facility has proved especially successful. The site is open to the public and visitors are issued scavenging tickets (6,500 issued last year). The result is that most of the wasted dumped there is taken away by someone who may have a use for it. Last year nearly 700 tonnes of waste ended up at the Longue Hougue site alone.
Another innovation is the ability to recycle that most notorious waste product, polystyrene. New bins have been introduced at both the Mont Cruet and Longue Hougue facilities for Islanders to drop off polystyrene packaging. The States has bought a £30,000 machine from the USA, which compresses the material thus making it easier and more cost-effective to ship to the UK where it is recycled into wood substitute. The material can then be used in the manufacture of various products, including decking, park benches and facia boards.
According to Clive Rogers of Robust Ltd, who developed the process, ‘The wood substitute does not rot and could be used for many years.’
Mr Ogier said: 'Polystyrene takes up a lot of space and is also not biodegradable so we are very pleased that we found a method for recycling it.'
Watch this space for more updates of the Channel Islands eco-friendliness!

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