Recycling centre experiences during Covid19 pandemic

[ChiefPlanner]

Have put about a 150 old stored copies of "Rail" into the paper recycling. Bin men happily took them

(I had put 20 or so out for "free to anyone" - there were no takers)

 

[Bald Rick]

Have put about a 150 old stored copies of "Rail" into the paper recycling. Bin men happily took them

(I had put 20 or so out for "free to anyone" - there were no takers)

No doubt tomorrow’s toilet roll. Quite appropriate.

 

[Crossover]

I've had a couple of experiences with our local tip now since they reopened - they have reduced the number of bays available to aid social distancing and whilst the queues were crazy at first it seems to have eased a little now.

That said, the most recent visit was today and among the items I had taken to dispose of were fluorescent tubes. Carrying them over to the usual place I was advised by a member of staff that "we're not taking those at the moment, cos of Covid" and to "check the website" for what is being accepted. There is also a large area of glass, textile and book recycling banks, all roped off, so I suspect they're not accepting them either (I had glass too, but had already dropped it elsewhere where it doesn't have to be sorted by colour)

Today in particular, the place seemed to be overrun with staff (none of whom can help 'customers' at the moment) - at least 5 - many of them doing very little. One particular amusement where two members of staff sat alongside the access road, on chairs placed within 1/2 metre of each other, with a "social distancing" sign within arms length of one of them! The irony was something to behold!

 

[DelayRepay]

I've been to the tip once since they reopened. Our council require bookings. Originally you had to book by phone, and the wait to get through could be over an hour. Now they have online bookings available.

My slot was for 9:30. Unfortunately due to a road closure I was late but I thought I would try my look going in at 9:50. Nobodyy checked my details and I was just waved in. Most of the parking spaces were coned off, with four bays available, none were in use.

I was instructed just to dump everything in the bay next to my car, and not to worry about sorting the rubbish. All of the specific skips (e.g. metal, wood) were out of use, with one makeshift 'general waste' skip next to each parking space. Quite frustrating when I'd gone to the trouble of sorting the waste beforehand.

We are quite lucky in that we still have weekly waste collections, and they use bags rather than bins so you can put out any reasonable amount. I've started using the black bags for things that would normally go to the tip, breaking them up if necessary. Our street has also taken to sharing green bin space for garden waste - last week someone chopped down some conifers and used most of the green bins to dispose of the waste. I think this is causing problems for the council, because they often post that collections have been missed due to high volumes of rubbish. But this problem is of their own making due to the restrictions they have placed on use of tips.

 

[DB]

I wonder whether all thus performance has led to an increase in fly tipping?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I wonder whether all thus performance has led to an increase in fly tipping?

To an extent, but most of the fly tipping I've seen has been bags of spent compost (cannabis plant growing medium?) or kitchen / bathroom conversion waste / rubble (which probably weren't ever likely to be going anywhere near a recycling centre).

 

[adc82140]

I've been twice since all this started. The first time I queued for 2 hours. Then they introduced a booking system. Booked online, in and out in 10 minutes.

 

[ASharpe]

I've been a few times in Bradford recently and have found it to be ok.

At Midland Road you need to queue up on the road while they check you have a permit. It's quite nice to see half the queue disappear when they walk along checking but I wonder where the waste goes then.

Dropping off my old fridge I forgot to get the permit out before pushing it up to the glove box but the chap was very nice and let me off.

Out of interest do they make a profit on fridges etc? And do garages make a profit on recycling lead car batteries.