Residents thanked as tips re-open
05 May 2020 ARCHIVED (over 3 months old) - view latest news
The Council’s Household Waste Recovery Centres (HWRC) opened this week - with residents thanked for their patience.
Twelve sites opened their doors on Monday, May 4, with all of them being busy early in the morning. Although there were some long queues of traffic at some of the busier sites, no major issues were reported.
Councillor Glen Sanderson, Cabinet member for Environment and Local Services, said: "We know how much the household recovery centres have been missed, and we have done everything we can to get them open as soon as Government guidance advised it was acceptable to do so with social distancing arrangements in place.
“We are one of the first local authorities in the country to re-open our sites and I want to thank all our staff and our SUEZ colleagues for their work over the past few days in getting the sites open, as well as residents for their patience and understanding as they visited our sites after they have been closed for several weeks.
“These are still early days and we would ask residents to bear with us as we fine tune the process - we want the sites to work as efficiently as they can but must also prioritise the health and safety of staff and visitors."
The tips are initially providing a restricted service in line with Government guidance on reopening HWRCs to minimise the risk of spreading Covid-19 to protect the health and safety of the public and site staff.
This means limiting the number of people who can visit at any one time. Ideally only one person per vehicle should travel to the site, as only one person is permitted outside their vehicle once on-site, and people must remain in their vehicle whilst queuing. There are also new controls on the number and type of vehicles allowed on site. No large vans (transit van size or above) or trailers longer than 5 feet / 1.5metres will be allowed on site.
Opening times vary across sites, with larger sites being open 7 days per week and the smaller more rural sites being open 4 days per week (Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday).
There are restrictions and traffic management controls in place at each HWRC to protect staff and residents, and social distancing measures must be observed at all times by both staff and visitors. Northumberland residents will be required to provide proof of residence, and should only attend the sites for essential visits.
Under the lockdown restrictions a visit to your local HWRC would be considered essential if the waste materials cannot be stored at home without causing risk of injury or harm to health. The sites are only able to accept bagged general household waste, garden waste, wood and bulky items of household waste such as old furniture..
Residents can visit the council’s dedicated web pages for further details on their local Household Waste Recovery Centre, including site information, opening times and site rules and restrictions - visit www.northumberland.gov.uk/tip - regular updates will be provided on the council’s social media channels, and any issues including waiting times, will be provided through the council’s Alerts system.