Household waste recycling centres to re-open: CCN response

Today in Parliament, the Communities Secretary has said that councils have been asked to start making preparations to re-open household waste recycling centres.

Below, the County Councils Network responds to this announcement.

A CCN spokesperson said:

“Councils would like to have kept recycling centres open during this period. However, government guidance was clear that a journey to a household waste recycling centre was not considered essential travel, so councils rightly prioritised maintaining essential kerbside collections which the public rely on.

“The government has now indicated that they want councils to re-open their centres and local authorities have already begun preparations to do just that in the coming weeks. This will not be without its challenges – requiring social distancing measures, traffic management and co-ordination across the country.

“Most importantly, there needs to be clear guidance to both the police and the public as to what constitutes an essential journey to a household waste recycling centre during lockdown.”