Fly-tippers taking advantage of green waste honesty site

Monday 31 January 2022

The owners of the skips at the 'Green Site Honesty Box' at Le Friquet say the few who misuse the scheme are spoiling it for the majority of users and their actions are costing taxpayers money.

Skipco Ltd. is owned by Janice Queripel and her husband, Alan.

They and their staff provide the skips at Le Friquet Garden Centre, which anyone can use to dump household green waste in exchange for a small fee. The money should be placed in an honesty box at the site.

When the skips are full, Skipco takes them to the island's green waste site at Chouet to be emptied.

Pictured: Only green waste should be put in the skips.

Mrs Queripel said they have to cover all of the costs, including staff wages and rising diesel costs, each time the skips are emptied, which can be multiple times a day over a busy bank holiday weekend.

Green waste is free to dump at Chouet, but anything other than green waste must be separated and attracts charges.

Mrs Queripel said their scheme was again affected by fly-tippers recently. She and her staff had to spend time getting rubbish which was not green waste out of one of the skips with taxpayers then effectively having to pay for the disposal of that rubbish.

"We've had settees, we've had garden fencing and benches and a couple of weeks ago there was a tonne bag of rubbish left next to the skip as well - just general rubbish," said Ms Queripel. "People will just put anything in if they can get away with it unfortunately because it saves them having to pay down at the tip.

"But it still has to be sorted. We take it down to the tip and then, because this [green waste] rots down and it's recyclable and it's shredded, it's got to be sorted and the [non-green waste] rubbish has to be taken out and dumped - and so it's taxpayers' money basically. They're putting that in the tip under the cost of the States of Guernsey basically."

The most recent incident of fly-tipping was over the weekend of 22 and 23 January.

Numerous items were thrown in with the green waste, including a large amount of saw dust, which then had to be removed. Some of the items could have been reused and others were suitable for recycling. 

The green waste honesty skips have been at Le Friquet for at least nine years. The agreement between Skipco and the States to provide an accessible, cheap way for people to dispose of garden waste was in place when Mr and Mrs Queripel bought their business.

Mrs Queripel said they are more than happy to continue the service but it is frustrating when people abuse it.

"I think some of it is laziness. Some of it is they just don't want to pay to take it anywhere. They think it's a free skip and so they'll put it in.

"We've had some commercial companies dumping stuff here. I think it was the second lockdown. Somebody came up before we had even put them back and dumped a load of trees and bushes. It was obviously commercial and of course we've then got to spend time picking it all up. It is meant for the general public with bags of green waste. Bring it here, you pop it in, and pop your money in.

"But if we're not making enough money to cover the costs, there's no point in us running it. So they'll have to go to Chouet when that's open and it will be run by the States.

"That would be a shame because we've got a lot of elderly people that come here and we know certain people that come all the time. They will do their garden at the weekend and they have got a couple of bags and they will come here and have a natter if they see my husband. They want it here and we have had them say it will be a shame if it does go. But we have got to be able to cover costs because we are a private company.

"We are nothing to do with Le Friquet Garden Centre. The States asked us to do this so they have got somewhere close to be able to take their green waste. People think it's Le Friquet Garden Centre, but it's not. They let us do it here because people are coming here to do their shopping and so it's easy for everyone."

Pictured: The honesty site at Le Friquet Garden Centre is run on a pay per use basis.

The green waste site is run as an 'honesty site' with a box for donations. Skipco asks for payments of £1 per black bag-sized amount of green waste and £6 for a trailer full. 

Mrs Queripel said they are aware not everyone pays but for now the site just about covers its costs.

"The majority do pay, yes...but you do get people that just won't.

"Diesel is very expensive now so we've got to cover diesel and we have got to cover wages. It's surprising how long it takes to get your skip, take it right down to Chouet and then back again. That's an hour run and when you've got four or five to do it can take a few hours. So, yes, it just covers the diesel side of things really and that's it."