Hazardous waste dumping fell by 97% in three years

The amount of asbestos and other hazardous waste being dumped at Havre des Pas has fallen by 97% in the past three years, the waste team at La Collette has said.

The government was given permission from the planning committee to continue putting asbestos and contaminated soils into mounds on the site at La Collette's Eastern Headland on Thursday.

The public hearing revealed there was far less of the material being dumped due to the number of major building projects dropping and better communication with developers.

However, a number of big government projects are set to begin including the Fort Regent redevelopment including the dumping of asbestos from its roof.

Hundreds of new homes and leisure facilities are also set to be built at Jersey's Waterfront on reclaimed land - which was created using toxic ash.

The planning committee reminded the government that future big building projects may not be granted planning permission if it could lead to the moundbecoming too tall.

Francesca Mabbott, senior operations manager at La Collette, said it had reduced the amount of hazardous waste from 25,000 tonnes a year down to about 750 tonnes.

She said: "We don't just put waste into the hazardous cells - we're a technical consultee on the planning approvals procedure.

"We review all of the major development sites' waste management plans where they say what kind of waste they're producing and the routes they're going to take to recycle it or reuse it."

Mabbott said some waste that came out of the ground was "contaminated with materials that you just don't want to make its way into the environment".

"Some of it can be treated and some of it can't and we're obliged as an island to look after the waste that we produce ourselves rather than making it somebody else's problem by exporting it," she said.

The mound is currently 17m (55.7ft) high with permission for it to increase to 21.5m (70.5ft) - there's also the option for it to be extended further south if needed, she added.

Andrew Le Quesne, member of Save Our Shoreline, said he was concerned about the risks the hazardous waste mound could have on the Ramsar site.

The site, which extends from La Collette around the South East coast to Grouville Bay, is officially recognised as being globally important for nature conservation.

He said: "Jersey's been a signatory to the Ramsar Treaty for decades now and we are not respecting the requirements of the treaty.

"The risks are huge with dumping all of the toxic waste material that's been going on for years and no guaranteed proper containment."

Christopher Wade works as a chef at the Good Egg Beach Cafe at Harve des Pas - which looks onto La Collette.

He described the site as "a bit of an eyesore": "It's the [building] that makes it look bad - that hump was supposed to be massive, so you couldn't see it.

"But we work here and that's what it looks like every day, so I'm used to it, but it doesn't look the best does it?"

Mabbott said there were plans to landscape the headland and to construct a footpath all the way around the outside of the site.

Infrastructure Minister Andy Jehan said the aim was to reduce the amount of waste the island generates.

He said ways this could be done in the future included increasing the charges for hazardous waste disposal so that people sort alternatives, not digging as deep to uncover the hazardous waste, or to look at other ways of recycling.

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