Mounds of waste at La Collette set to grow if minister has way
More hazardous waste could be deposited at La Collette under plans by Jersey's Infrastructure Minister.
Deputy Tom Binet says it will give the government time to come up with a long term strategy.
The proposal would see headlands built to the South, East and West of the site which would hold hazardous waste and inert waste soils.
La Collette currently receives more hazardous waste than it is allowed, and it is expected that this will soon be the case with inert waste too.
Therefore, the minister has submitted these plans as the "island is without a facility for the management of hazardous waste," and he fears "permissions for the disposal of inert waste soils at the site will be exceeded in the short term."
He has called it a "short/medium" plan which would allow him and the Environment Minister to develop a long-term strategy to deal with waste in Jersey.
He says this will be ready in time for the next review of the Island plan in 2026.
Just last month, the Planning Committee rejected similar plans which would have given the government permission to create headlands to hold hazardous waste.
This means the site will technically need to stop taking new waste from 14 April once this refusal is confirmed, leaving the island without a facility to deal with this type of waste.
Deputy Tom Binet has outlined two alternative options if his new proposal is rejected and La Collette is no longer able to receive hazardous waste.
The first option would be to remove the waste at source, although the minister says this would restrict construction on the island and would have a far-reaching local impact.
The second option would be to develop another waste site - Deputy Binet believe this would have its own environmental issues and would take at least two or three years to build.
For this reason, he writes: "It is considered to be in the Island’s best interests to maximise the lifetime of La Collette as a tip site and to incorporate super-filling."
He also says this option has an overall community benefit which outweighs the adverse effects.
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