Fridge dumping charges could be introduced - minister

Jersey's government is considering introducing charges for the disposal of some solid waste products, as current rules are "not sustainable", the Minister for Infrastructure has said.

Constable Andy Jehan was answering questions from the Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel about the progress of a new Solid Waste strategy.

He said that the document would be shared with scrutiny "within the next couple of weeks", before being published by the next Minister for Infrastructure, following Jersey's election in June.

Jehan cited fridges and televisions as examples of items which were free to dispose of in Jersey, but which cost people to get rid of in other places.

"It is not the case that we want to charge – we have to find ways of encouraging people to reduce their waste, we have to encourage people to reuse what they've got before they dispose of or recycle it," he said.

"We receive hundreds of televisions, for example. Some jurisdictions might charge you £10 to dispose of a television.

"We are very mindful that we don't want fly-tipping to occur.

"But equally we need to be mindful of the cost of disposal of those safely, and where we can recycle, recycle."

Jehan said that in addition to the strategy, civil servants were working on a paper in relation to the disposal of fridges, which were known officially as "cooling appliances".

"Currently we are processing waste free of charge for commercial entities, and it's not sustainable," he said.

"In Europe and the UK, there's the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) standards for how you remove electrical appliances, and clearly cooling appliances are more complex because of the mechanism.

"We've got currently commercial fitters who are delivering us with half a dozen cooling appliances which actually fill a trailer, and costing us thousands of pounds to export and to be processed - whereas virtually everywhere else there'd be some form of charge for that, so that the cooling appliances can be disposed of safely and recycled."

Jehan told the panel that he believed charges for the disposal of fridges could be introduced by the government without the need for a States Assembly decision.

He said that officials in his department had sought the views of industry stakeholders on the prospect of charges being introduced for the disposal of fridges.

As some islanders are eligible for emergency help with the purchase of household appliances including fridges, he said that conversations had also been held with civil servants in the Customer and Local Services department, to ensure that any proposed charges did not adversely affect people in need of support.

In a wide-ranging conversation about Jersey's waste management processes, Jehan said that the forthcoming strategy would consider whether a second household recycling centre could be created "somewhere else" in the island.

He also said that more needed to be done to ensure that businesses and individuals disposed properly of their waste.

"We see examples every day where some recycling is contaminated – people not cleaning out bottles and cans - which is really disappointing because it's so easy to do," he said.

"We've got a lot of work to do when it comes to waste and educating people."

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