Household waste and recycling centres will reopen on Monday 11 May following significant rises in fly-tipping across the Cheshire East.
Following liaison with neighbouring local authorities and pressure from Ward Councillors in the past three weeks, residents are being asked to note that whilst the sites will now open, they will open with restrictions and traffic management in place.
Residents are urged to only travel to a site where the journey is essential and where the waste or recycling cannot be safely stored at home until a later date.
All eight sites will reopen, operating seven days a week from 8.30am–5pm. All users of the sites will need to observe social distancing measures which, unfortunately, means site staff will not be able to assist anyone.
Our own local Councillors have observed that whilst we are currently living in very testing times, many residents have chosen to stay occupied and carry out a good old fashioned spring clean! Due to current government regulations on non-essential travel, our Household waste recycling centres first closed on 23 March.
Cllr Mary Addison (Haslington) reported:
“Sadly more and more people have chosen to leave their waste at the side of the road. I have received several reports over the last couple of months of large items such as sofas and refrigerators being abandoned, often on country lanes and encroaching onto the road itself. Illegal dumping can have a serious impact on the environment, encouraging vermin, adding to the spreading of diseases, causing road safety issues, trouble with access to gateways and creating a fire hazard.”
“Our fantastic army of refuge collectors have continued to do an excellent job and are emptying our bins weekly, so we encourage you to put as much of your waste as possible in your bins. Any bulky items that do not fit, please keep yourself until they can be disposed of in the proper manner when the waste recycling centres reopen or arrange a large or bulky item collection from Cheshire East Council :”
https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/waste_and_recycling
Please report any illegal dumping of items to your local councillor or on the government website:
https://www.gov.uk/report-flytipping
The vast majority of us continue to dispose of and recycle our waste in the correct way and we thank you for that.
Cllr Rachel Bailey (Audlem) highlighted at the Council’s first ‘Virtual Cabinet’ meeting this afternoon that another impact of the closures was that “...many residents have fallen foul of rogue traders, charging to remove waste and then flytipping in remote sites across the borough. The re-opening of the sites is very welcome but must be done under strict social distancing conditions to keep staff and residents safe.”
The waste recycling centres will reopen on 11 May,
Additional restrictions and measures to be aware of include:
- Access is permitted for cars only. No vans, vehicle trailers or commercial vehicles will be allowed in;
- No more than two people should be in the car and no children are allowed. Where younger children can’t stay at home, they will be allowed to travel in but they must not get out of the car;
- Site staff will not be able to assist with the unloading or lifting of items. People are advised to ensure they can do this themselves or to have a second person with them to help with heavy or bulky items;
- Pedestrians must not access the site. Access is by car only;
- For safety purposes, a traffic management system will be in place at all sites. Queuing outside the sites will be restricted and residents may be asked to leave and return later;
- Sites will be operating on a ‘one out, one in’ basis for cars, so residents are warned that waiting times may be significantly longer;
- A car number plate system will be in operation. This will help control the number of visitors to the sites each day. Drivers’ access to the site will be based on the last number on their vehicle registration plate. Number plates on which the last number is odd - 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, for the first week of the reopening of the sites (week commencing 11 May) will be given access on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Number plates where the last number is even - 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 will be given access to the sites for the first week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Further information on this and the rota will be shown on our household waste recycling centre page;
- To help prevent people travelling from areas outside of Cheshire East, residents may be asked for evidence of their address – and so are advised to have a recent utility bill or council tax bill with them;
- Once on site, all cars must be parked at least two metres away from the next one;
- It is everyone’s own responsibility to adhere to the two-metres social distancing when on the site. Please therefore be considerate towards others using the site;
- The waste permit system will not be operating due to the car-only policy;
- Access to the sites will be removed for people using abusive language or intimidating behaviour towards site staff or other people; and
- Waste from households containing people who have Covid-19 symptoms should be double bagged and left for 72 hours before being brought to site.
