This is partly because it clearly makes sense to reuse valuable raw materials and partly because the environment must be protected from the hazardous substances that are found in some categories of waste.
However, in spite of the availability of recycling centres and the promise of improved kerb-side operations, the drive to deal with waste logically as well as efficiently appears to be faltering. This is because Transport and Technical Services, the department with responsibility for waste disposal and recycling, is struggling to keep up with the volume of material it has to handle.
In particular, Transport is sitting on a substantial backlog of old television sets and computer monitors which must be shipped to the UK for processing. This is clearly a costly operation.
It has been suggested that the problem could be solved by charging the public for at least some recycling processes. This could, apparently, fill the gap in Transport’s recycling budget – a gap currently in the order of £100,000 a year.
But this is problematical. Islanders already pay for waste disposal through the rates and are therefore likely to resent any further charges on this front, even if the environmental principles underlying them are seen as laudable.
In addition, as Transport Minister Mike Jackson has pointed out, charges could cause as many problems as they solved. Faced with paying a charge or breaking the law, some people would choose the latter and engage in the reprehensible but once widespread practice of fly tipping.
As Mr Jackson also pointed out, the majority of people are quite prepared to be convinced by the arguments in favour of recycling, but they still require the processes involved in the activity to be made as straightforward and user-friendly as possible. Far from erecting further barriers – in the shape of charges or unduly complex rules and regulations – the government should be doing everything possible to encourage behaviour that protects the environment and preserves scarce resources.
If this requires a reassessment of Transport’s budget, so be it. Recycling is already an important issue and will become increasingly vital in the future. We simply cannot afford to put people off the habit before it has properly formed.
