10 September 2007
A delegation from the
Transport and Technical Services Department
led by the Minister for Transport and Technical Services, Deputy
Guy de Faye
, travelled to Normandy last week to learn more about how recycling is handled in the area.
The group included officers from the Department and a representative from the company Reclamait Ltd., who recently won a new contract for handling
Jersey
’s paper, card and plastic bottle recycling. Seamus Canavan from the Maison de Jersey in
Caen
set up the visit and facilitated the discussions.
A number of large recycling facilities were visited in the
Normandy
area including two operated by SIREC (Société Industrielle de Recyclage) which are part of the international waste company SITA and one in the north of the region run by a company called SPEN.
The Minister for Transport and Technical Services, Deputy
Guy de Faye
said: “It was most interesting to see how recycling collection and sorting is handled in other authorities. I was encouraged to see that the principles of what we are doing in
Jersey
are not dissimilar but the French operations have the major advantage of lots of space and very good road transport links with the reprocessors of the materials.”
The delegation was also told about a system of packaging tax which is applied to products at the point of sale which is then used to cover the various costs of recycling such as collections and sorting. There is also a mechanism in some areas for some of the money generated by sales of the materials to go back into the community they came from to stimulate further recycling.
Also attending the visit was the Department’s Recycling Officer
John Rive
who said: “We made some excellent contacts within the companies who were keen to share their knowledge and expertise as we expand our recycling systems. Another possibility is for some of our materials such as paper and card to be sent in that direction but the logistics are a bit more challenging than going into the
UK
.”
The visit was part of on-going work between the States of Jersey and La Conseil Général de La Manche to foster links in a number of key Government policy areas.
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