Gov commits to reopen reuse centre at La Collette by next April

Wednesday 13 September 2023

An empty ‘reuse reception centre’ at La Collette will reopen by next April after the Government supported the thrust of a backbench proposal to bring it back.

The reuse centre was specially built as part of the redevelopment of the household recycling site, which opened in 2017.

It allowed people to drop off items that could be reused, rather than throw them into the nearby recycling skips. 

Run by the Jersey Employment Trust / Acorn after a tendering process, the centre was just for drop-offs with accepted items then taken up to Acorn’s centre in Trinity for sale.

However, the charity withdrew from the contract during the pandemic and the reception building closed its doors to the public in October 2021. 

After having a conversation with environmental group Jersey in Transition, which called for the centre to reopen, Deputy Catherine Curtis lodged a proposition echoing that belief.

Pictured: Jersey in Transition suggested that the recycling reception centre at La Collette could become a place to donate and pick-up free goods that would otherwise be thrown away.

Infrastructure Tom Binet subsequently amended that proposal to move the target date for reinstatement from the end of 2023 to April 2024, with the updated version overwhelmingly supported by States Members this week.

Deputy Binet told the Assembly that his department was already talking to “serious and very capable operators” about reopening the centre, which would require three or four members of staff to run.

With his update, the Assembly has formally requested “the Minister for Infrastructure to take the necessary steps to reinstate the re-use centre at La Collette by April 2024, in the existing purpose-built building, to allow for the current tender process for operation of the service to be completed and, if this is not successful, to look at the feasibility of the re-use centre being operated by Government of Jersey employees".