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Guernsey Waste is looking for a new party or parties to help give a new lease of life to unwanted household items that would otherwise go to waste.
It is seeking expressions of interest from charities, not-for-profit organisations or businesses who could help provide the local reuse service. They will take over from local charity GO, which has been operating the service in conjunction with Guernsey Waste since 2017.
Encouraging reuse is a key priority for the island’s waste strategy. The aim is to try and ensure that, wherever possible, no useful items or materials go to waste. Every year the repair and reuse service finds new homes for over a hundred tonnes of unwanted household items, through GO’s charity shop.
Any new contractor could take over the current reuse operation based at the Household Waste & Recycling Centre at Longue Hougue. Alternatively, the service could involve a partnership with a number of organisations, to provide a network of reuse channels, each potentially specialising in different items.
GO – short for Giving Opportunities, supports islanders who experience social or workplace disadvantages. Its chair, Justine Gaudion, said the reuse partnership had been so successful, the charity had decided it needed to refocus its activities when the current contract expires in mid-2022.
“The partnership has been such an amazing journey for our staff and trainees, it was a very difficult decision to move on, but providing quality training experiences became a challenge when managing the volume. With the original contract coming to an end, it was the right time to refocus our attention on GO’s core aim. That is providing training opportunities for islanders to overcome barriers to employment due to social or communication difficulties. We therefore think the time is right to give someone else this unique opportunity and we wish to thank the States team for giving us both the opportunity and their full support throughout our journey.
Waste Prevention and Recycling Officer, Tina Norman-Ross said, ‘The partnership with GO has been extremely successful in terms of waste diverted and the social benefits being achieved.
In 2016, 24 tonnes of materials were recorded as being taken by members of the public from the old Civic Amenity Site. Since the current arrangement was put in place with GO this figure has steadily increased rising to 76 tonnes in 2017. In 2020 (the last published statistics) the total was nearly double that amount at 148 tonnes items diverted, ranging from children’s toys and bric-a-brac to large items and furniture.
Tina Norman-Ross said, ‘Guernsey’s waste strategy is based on the waste hierarchy which puts prevention and reuse as its priority and the facility at Longue Hougue has a major part to play in delivering this.
‘We are very open to suggestions. Realistically, it is probably unlikely that we will find another charity like GO which can offer the same one stop shop approach. So we are looking at all the options and would be happy to change the current model, for instance more like a ‘repair and reuse network’, where individual organisations could join together. They would maybe specialise in certain types of items, such as furniture or vinyl records, or specific skills, like management, logistics, retail, or refurbishment and repair.
“We are therefore open to any suggestions and would welcome expressions of interest from any organisations, large and small. For further information and to register your interest please contact Tina Norman-Ross recycle@gov.gg or telephone 01481 221234.
The deadline for expressions of interest is Midday on 4 April 2022.
