Household Waste Recycling Sites (HWRSs) across West Sussex will reopen from Monday 11th May, the County Council has confirmed.
Final preparations to reopen the sites are being completed this week, taking into account the latest government advice, which was issued today (Tuesday).
If you are thinking of taking a trip to one of the HWRSs there are several things you need to consider.
Before planning your journey you should:
- Consider whether your journey is essential. You should only visit a HWRSs if your waste or recycling is not suitable to be picked up in your kerbside collection and presents a risk of injury or harm to health. If it doesn’t, please safely store your items at home for now or make other legal arrangements for it to be removed.
- Note emergency laws on essential travel still apply and these essential reasons provide the only “reasonable excuse” for travel – the fact that sites are open does not.
- Check our opening hours. Sites will be running their usual summer opening days and hours. (Please note our Shoreham site is closed on Mondays. Other sites may close on other days.) Please check when your local site is open at www.westsussexrecycles.org before leaving home.
- Consider whether you need to come straight away Sites may be busy in the first few days and at weekends, if you can wait a little longer it may mean a shorter waiting time.
Before visiting a site please note:
- Only garden waste and residual waste will be accepted. Garden waste means green waste such as grass cuttings and hedge trimmings. Residual waste is other waste that presents a risk of injury or harm to health and will be landfilled. We hope to be able to accept other items soon. Please continue to use your household collections for recycling and general waste.
- Only cars will be allowed on site. Trailers and large vehicles such as vans and pickups will not be allowed access at this time.
Once at the sites there will be certain measures in place for the safety of visitors and staff:
- The number of vehicles accessing the sites will be restricted. Visitors should prepare for delays at sites and should delay their visit to avoid the first couple of weeks if possible.
- Social distancing barriers will be in place. Visitors will be directed into enclosed bays to dispose of their waste.
- Only one person will be allowed to get out of a vehicle. Please travel to the sites alone if possible. If other people travel to the site with you, they must remain in the vehicle.
- Site staff will not be able to help unload your waste and recycling. Please do not bring anything that you cannot safely remove from your car on your own.
- Abuse or aggression to site staff will not be tolerated and could result in sites being closed again.
Deborah Urquhart, West Sussex County Council Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “The health and protection of residents and our staff is our absolute priority. We know the closure of our recycling sites has been inconvenient for many and we know there will be a lot of people who will now want to visit the sites as soon as they reopen.
“However, I would ask people to consider whether their journey is absolutely essential. If you can store your waste and recycling without risking injury, health, or harm, then please do so.
“We are expecting the sites to be busy when they reopen and social distancing measures will mean fewer cars can access the site at any one time, so users should plan for significant delays and long queues, which could affect the road network.
“In order to maintain social distancing and keep everyone safe we have had to restrict the service we can offer and therefore the types of waste we can accept. We hope to be able to expand this in the coming weeks and we thank everyone for their patience.”
