Rubbish tips will be reopened ‘only for those who absolutely need to dispose of waste’

As Cabinet Member for Environment I’ve spoken to lots of residents, virtually of course, about the effect the closure of our household waste recycling sites is having.
Deborah Urquhart cabinet member for the environment at West Sussex County Council SUS-181005-163449001Deborah Urquhart cabinet member for the environment at West Sussex County Council SUS-181005-163449001
Deborah Urquhart cabinet member for the environment at West Sussex County Council SUS-181005-163449001

This virus has touched every part of all of our lives and I do understand how difficult that has been.

But I’m also very aware of the devastating impact of this virus on health and lives and that’s why, all the way along, it’s been so important we do the right thing to keep everyone safe. That’s the residents who might want to visit our sites and the staff who work at them.

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When social distancing measures were first announced we worked with our contractor Viridor to put in place arrangements to allow people to visit the household waste recycling sites safely.

Unfortunately we found some people weren’t following the guidance and, on top of that, staff at the sites received a lot of abuse – that simply isn’t acceptable.

So together with our contractor we took the decision to close the sites. Shortly after the lockdown was announced and government advised against only but the most essential travel.

In a letter from DEFRA last week the Government confirmed that closing our sites at that point was justified in the light of the government’s clear ‘stay at home’ message.

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However now, as we locally and the Government nationally starts to think about how we move out of this complete lockdown state, it’s time for us to plan how we begin to reopen sites to help people dispose of waste that might be causing them issues for health and safety reasons at home.

Government has indicated they will issue guidance shortly that will allow visits to household waste recycling sites for very specific health & safety reasons as part of essential public service.

We are ready to make sure West Sussex residents have access to this service but we need to do so in a way that is safe and proportionate.

We are working towards reopening the sites next week (the week beginning May 11). The exact date will be confirmed later this week after we have received the Government guidance.

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When we do reopen it will be only for those residents who absolutely need to dispose of waste and there may be limits on the waste which can be accepted.

One of the really important things we need to make sure is that we limit the numbers of people on the sites at any one time and we are very aware of the impact on the road network. I would urge people to ask themselves if their visit is absolutely necessary and to try to come to the sites at times of the day which might be quieter to avoid queuing.

Our plans are to open all of our sites in line with our usual summer opening days and times.

I want to thank all of our residents for their understanding during this really difficult time and for staying safe, protecting the NHS and other keyworkers and thereby saving lives.

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