Users of the new site will be assessed on entry and directed to the relevant bins. As before, all of the recycling services are free to use but there is a charge to dispose of non-recyclables including wood. 

The Go charity shop also has a new premises within the centre for collecting items to be sold on in the shop. Even items such at television sets, batteries and spare oil can be recycled in the centre. 

Pictured: One of the raised walkways for disposal of recyclables which might have missed kerbside collections. 

Guernsey Waste Operations Manager, Sarah Robinson, said it will be a major improvement.

“The current site and the ones before it were always intended as temporary facilities, until all the waste management facilities at Longue Hougue could be properly developed. Despite their obvious shortcomings, which were evident to anyone visiting, they have been enormously popular” she said.

“The new Household Waste & Recycling Centre is a vast improvement. We have proper access roads and hard surfacing throughout the site, so no more potholes and mud. Plus it provides drop off facilities for all the materials that we currently collect for recycling, as wellas for general household waste, all in one place,” she said.

The new centre continues to incorporate a reuse element, so that unwanted items that are still in good or repairable condition can be given a new lease of life. This operates as a social enterprise partnership, involving local charity GO.

Local construction firm J W Rihoy & Son carried out the construction of the facility, which is located just south of the new waste transfer station at Longue Hougue.

Households can drop off any materials currently collected through bring banks and the kerbside, as well as any items that are currently accepted at the Longue Hougue recycling site. That includes scrap metal, polythene, old electrical appliances, bicycles, batteries, rigid plastic, and ceramics.

Pictured: Some of the smaller bins for less common recyclables. 

Households can also pay to dispose of general rubbish, or other items for disposal.

More than 1,000 tonnes of household waste is recycled through the current Longue Hougue facility each year, in addition to thousands of items recovered by GO for reuse.

The centre will be open between 08:00 and 16:00 on weekdays, with the exception of Thursdays when the site is closed for cleaning and maintenance. It also opens at 08:00 on weekends, closing at 16:00 on Saturday and noon on Sunday.

The HWRC is closed on Bank Holidays, because in the 11 years a temporary site has been provided these typically saw few visitors.

The current bring bank site at Chouet headland, adjacent to Mont Cuet, will close once the new Household Waste & Recycling Centre opens.

“We get a lot of complaints from the public about the state of the access to those bring banks, and to the green waste site next door. The issues have been similar to what we have had at the temporary recycling site at Longue Hougue. The access roads are not designed to deal with the volumes of cars going there, and no matter how much maintenance we perform they are soon full of puddles and pot holes. However it is also not worth going to the expense of hard surfacing something that is only a temporary site,” said Miss Robinson.

“The Chouet Headland is earmarked to become a quarry within the next few years, so we are going to have to remove the bring banks in any event. The green waste drop off site is also being relocated to Mont Cuet shortly, which has much better access.

“Given that we are opening a brand new, purpose-built waste and recycling centre, within five minute drive of Chouet, it is also surplus to requirement now.”