“We must stop taxpayers subsidising free waste disposal for businesses” - Minister

Wednesday 08 June 2016

An old legal agreement that forces taxpayers to subsidise free waste disposal for St Helier businesses must be scrapped if Jersey is going to improve its recycling rates.

That’s the view of Infrastructure Minister Eddie Noel, who is making a legal challenge to an old agreement with the Parish of St Helier from more than 60 years ago.

The sale of the Bellozanne site by the Parish of St Helier to the States in 1952 included a clause that said the States could never charge St Helier residents for waste disposal. Deputy Noel says that means that commercial operators can’t be charged for waste, which means that taxpayers are effectively subsidising them. In the UK, commercial waste charges amount to many millions of pounds per year.

He is challenging the arrangement in the Royal Court, against the objections of the Parish of St Helier – Deputy Noel says that if the clause is not put aside by the court, then he will have to negotiate with the Parish of St Helier to effectively “buy out” the agreement.

He says that as long as businesses can dump rubbish for free, there’s no incentive for them to spend money recycling. And he says that jobs could be created in a new recycling sector handling commercial waste.

At the moment, Jersey recycles 30% of waste – way short of the 50% achieved in Guernsey, where the government is able to charge businesses for waste disposal.

Deputy Noel said: “While it’s all free we are never going to change behavior in terms of recycling, so we are never going to do the best we can for the environment, and we have a responsibility to do our bit.

“Why would a commercial enterprise spend money on recycling when they could dump waste for free?

“This is about individual, private taxpayers subsidising businesses.

“We can’t have a situation where you do not charge St Helier businesses for waste but we do charge businesses from St Saviour.

“Guernsey have got higher recycling rates. There is no commercial waste that goes into their landfill, because it’s cheaper form them to use recycling operators. That has created jobs and businesses in recycling.”

The case is due back in court on 20 June, but a judgment is not likely for several months.

Deputy Noel emphasised that the case was about commercial waste, not households.

He said: “Domestic charges are another matter. I can envisage that at some point in the future it might be necessary because of funding pressures for domestic waste, but we are not there yet.”