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The Southern Civic Amenity Site Board is aware of disquiet amongst some surrounding recent comments made on social media regarding its fair use policy at the site. The site has always had a fair use policy at the site. This policy was amended earlier this year from its previous policy of ‘six small bags’ per week, which effectively permitted users of the site to deposit around 100kg of waste per week at the site. To put this into context, the average weight of waste from a domestic 240L wheelie bin is 25kg and permitting 100kg a week equates to 5.2T per year which is equivalent of a 40 cubic yard container (the largest containers used at the amenity sites) from the site going to the Energy from Waste plant at a current cost of around £700.
The revised fair use policy is now six small bags per month which is monitored by staff on the site. All amenity sites on the Island have a fair use policy and it is not unreasonable to have such a policy in place. Large scale DIY jobs and house clearances have always been outside of the acceptable use of the site. Should householders be undertaking jobs of that nature, then a skip should be considered which are available from several providers on the Island.
Householders who visit the site regularly to deposit recycling, hedge trimmings, grass cuttings and the like from their day to day living should not be affected by the change. The Board is also aware of ongoing comments circulating regarding the closure of the reuse area at the site at the end of 2023.
As the Board has previously stated, two of the contributing authorities did not accept the proposed budget for this financial year, which would have seen a reuse area and commercial waste acceptance continuing at the site. The revised budget reduced the overall expenses of running the site but also reduced staffing at the site by the equivalent of 1.5 full time employees.
The Board has been working on alternative arrangements which would see the site being able to accept reusable items on behalf of a local charity which would in turn benefit a whole array of charitable causes within the South of the Island. If this develops as the Board hopes, this arrangement will see the charity making monetary donations to worthy organisations in the South covering a whole range of age groups and activities. Added 22 April 2024
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