Guernsey, like so many small islands, has an on-going waste and recycling problem. This British Crown Dependency is an affluent island with a population of approximately 65,000. And in the tourist season the population can increase by up to 50%.

Guernsey is without a transfer station and when waste is collected, it is taken directly to the island’s sole landfill site – which it is estimated has capacity for only two more years.

The States of Guernsey, who owns the site, has increased disposal charges from £7 per tonne in 1999 to £86.20 per tonne in 2006 and will be increasing the rate yet again to £125 per tonne in April 2007. There is no landfill tax element as it is embedded in the tonnage price.

Environmental Minister Bernhard Flouquet is currently evaluating whether to introduce a pay-by-weight scheme for householders right across the island. The Government is also considering using an incinerator when landfill reaches capacity.

Private waste contractor, R.F. Mills recognises how important it is that the island gets on top of its huge waste problem. It is now working with PM Onboard to provide a charge-by-weight waste service to its business customers.

With the exception of cardboard, the island does not recycle any commercial waste. By introducing a charge-by-weight scheme, R.F. Mills will be able to determine the profit and loss of every collection so its customers pay only for the amount of waste they produce.

Demonstating the benefits

R.F. Mills owner Martyn Seabrook explains: “The move from paying-per-lift to paying-by-weight was, at first, a shock to many customers, but we were able to show them how some establishments were actually costing us money to service them.

“An example of the anomalies that existed was the discovery of one customer who was actually costing us £900 per month to service, the cost being heavily subsidised by other customers.”

Four out of five of R.F. Mills’ Dennis Elite refuse vehicles have now been equipped with the PM BinWeigh weighing and ID system and 480 four-wheeled trade bins have been chipped. BinWeigh software was installed and linked to the infobiz 2 software so that invoices could be raised based on the amount of waste collected.

With waste increasing ten-fold in the holiday season the BinWeigh system is able to recognise exactly what waste each customer is producing.

The BinWeigh is based on a dynamic weighing system. A chip is inserted in wheeled bins allowing the weight to be measured as the refuse vehicle lifts it. The process takes no longer than a traditional bin collection. The data is collected onboard and then downloaded at the end of the round.

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