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After more than a decade of being tipped straight into a UK landfill site, the 1,900 tonnes of ash generated by Jersey's incinerator every year will now be put to better use.
Following a change in contract, it will instead be used to make concrete blocks.
Approximately two articulated trailers per week are loaded with hazardous ‘fly ash’ from the La Collette Energy Recovery Facility and shipped to the UK.
The incinerator creates around 1,900 tonnes of this ash every year, which is a by-product of burning waste.
The heat from burning waste powers a steam turbine which meets about 5% of the island’s electricity needs.
The Government has been exporting the incinerator ash from Jersey to the UK since the facility opened over a decade ago. Over that period, the ash has been sent to a hazardous waste landfill site in England.
According to the Minister, it is "not possible for this kind of waste to be disposed of in Jersey". It's for that reason that permission to export for disposal elsewhere was secured, Deputy Binet said.
The Government says it is not allowed to export hazardous waste due to its obligations under the international Basel Convention – however, ash export is permitted by UK authorities.
The existing contract for waste management came to the end of its pre-agreed period and was up for renewal, presenting an opportunity to do something different with the waste.
Expressions of interest in the contract were invited in January, and a new contract was signed earlier this year. The ash will now be recycled into large concrete blocks, which will be used in the UK hazardous waste site. The first shipment for recovery was last month.
Deputy Binet said there will be "no change to operations or costs" as a result.
Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet said: “Ash from Jersey’s incinerator will now be recovered and recycled in the UK, rather than disposed of.
“Prior to the autumn, the Air Pollution Control Residue (APCr), was exported to the UK to a designated hazardous waste landfill site for disposal.
“The Government is now exporting APCr to a designated UK site for recovery, which is a more sustainable solution. The substance is now recovered in the UK and used to manufacture large concrete blocks."
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