A FORMER reuse reception centre at La Collette which was previously run by Acorn could reopen, following a vote in the States this week.
The centre was 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 used 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 in October 2021.
After having a conversation with environmental charity Jersey in Transition, Deputy Catherine Curtis lodged a proposition calling for the centre to reopen.
Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet subsequently amended that proposal, 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 it.
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’.
