Guernsey’s ‘pay as you throw’ scheme and recycling achievements have been recognised on a national website.
The website is for members of the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) which represents the voice of local government recycling officers in the UK. It represents local authority views on recycling, waste and resource management issues and is run by an executive of twenty serving local authority waste management officers with members in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales including associates from the Channel Islands.
James Langley, a reporter from Letsrecyle.com who also writes for LARAC, picked up Guernsey’s pay as you throw scheme and the Island’s recycling rate and approached Guernsey Waste for more details. The feature gave an overview of how the pay as you throw scheme got started, what it covers, how it works and what the future holds.
Lee Marshall, Chief Executive of LARAC said: “LARAC has advocated that councils in the UK should be allowed to have the option for a ‘Pay as you throw’ system, so has been interested in how Guernsey has been able to progress this. Also, through submission to the LARAC Awards, Guernsey were able to highlight the innovative policy work that they were doing.
“We support councils being able to introduce ‘Pay as you throw’ if they felt it was right for their area. Seeing what Guernsey has achieved supports the evidence from other European countries that ‘Pay as you throw’ brings about a step change in peoples’ behaviour and increases participation in and use of recycling services.
“What Guernsey has done shows what can be achieved with a comprehensive recycling service that is backed up with a charged for residual service. The recycling rate is very impressive and shows what could be possible if the right policies were in place in the rest of the UK.”
Sarah Robinson, from the States of Guernsey, said; “It’s great to see Guernsey recognised by one of the UK’s leading authorities for waste and recycling. We are very proud of what the island has achieved halving our residual waste and obtaining a recycling rate that ranks among the world’s best.”
In 2019 Guernsey recorded a household waste recycling rate of 73% which is higher than the top performing European nations.
The main photo shows Tina Norman Ross (to the left) and Sarah Robinson (to the right).
