Waste collection charge = 24p extra on your restaurant bill

Thursday 30 June 2016

The new commercial waste charge proposed by Ministers yesterday will add 24p per person onto the cost of an average meal out.

The rise in cost - which, of course, restaurants may choose to absorb - has been estimated by the Infrastructure Department, who will collect the charge from 2018, if the States agree. It has also worked out that the charge will equate to 72p on the cost of a hotel room per night.

The Council of Ministers hope that the charge will raise £13m a year in total, although that falls to £11m when you strip out the £2m that States departments will have to pay themselves. The charge will be collected by Infrastructure at La Collette and Bellozanne so waste collection contractors will foot the bill initially and then pass it on to customers.

Infrastructure Minister Eddie Noel said: "This user-pays charge not only means that we can raise £11m, that would otherwise have to come out of general revenues, it will also hopefully lead to a change in behaviour as businesses choose to recycle more. 

"The introduction of user-pays funding has many benefits. It will enable the continued provision of these essential public health services, enable expansion of the main drains network, enable long-term efficient provision and enhancement in line with customers’ wishes, ease pressure on central tax funding for investment in Health and Education and allow us to manage our finances in a sustainable manner into the long term."