Highbridge recycling centre and other sites in Somerset is now taking more materials – including wood, paint, small electricals, and plastic pots, tubs and trays – from this week.
All Somerset’s recycling sites are now on their usual summer schedule – and at Highbridge, the centre is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. It is open 9am-6pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. And it is open from 9am-4pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
A range of restrictions to ensure social distancing remain in place for the safety of customers and staff, including reduced loading bays, that may bring queues.
From 8th June onwards, these materials are accepted at all 16 Somerset recycling sites:
- NEW: Plastic pots, tubs and trays (recycled in UK)
- NEW: Man-made wood – chipboard, MDF, etc (recycled in UK)
- NEW: Natural wood – untreated timber, tree trunks, etc. (recycled in UK)
- NEW: Small household electrical items (recycled in UK)
- NEW: Paint (water-based recycled in UK; other paint landfilled in Somerset)
- Rubbish – material you would usually put in your black rubbish bin, excess black bags not taken by kerbside collections (landfilled in Somerset)
- Bulky items, such as furniture and mattresses (landfilled in Somerset)
- Garden waste (composted in Somerset)
- Large household electrical items – white goods, TVs etc (recycled in UK)
- Small household electrical items – irons, toasters etc (recycled in UK)
- Hazardous household chemicals, such as solvents, garden chemicals, paint thinners and antifreeze (treated and disposed of in UK)
- Cooking oil, in disposable containers of up to five litres (recycled in UK)
- Engine oil, in disposable containers of up to five litres (recycled in UK)
- Metals (recycled in UK)
All these restrictions continue:
- Permits system – see https://www.somersetwaste.gov.uk/apply-for-a-permit/– still applies; no vans over 3.5 tonnes, no double-axle trailers, or vans, pick-ups, motorhomes or minibuses towing trailers, at any time
- All cars, and vans under 3.5 tonnes with permits, can access open sites at any time on any day
- If holding permits, single-axle short trailers and 3.5 tonne vans, including pick-ups, motorhomes or minibuses, can use open sites 4pm-6pm weekdays and at no other times
- Reduced parking bays and no access to usual recycling skips to ensure strict social distancing
- No people with COVID-19 symptoms, or those asked to shield
- Site staff cannot offer manual assistance with heavy items
- Maximum two people per household
- Gloves to be worn outside vehicles
- No pedestrian or bicycle access
- Access “one in, one out”
Compost is not available to buy and these items are not taken until further notice:
- Anything involving payment – hardcore (including stone, rubble, clay, bricks and concrete, as well as sinks, tiles and toilets made from ceramics or porcelain), soil, tyres, gas bottles or vehicle parts
- Commercial waste
- Asbestos or plasterboard
As sites move towards business as usual after COVID-19 closures, Somerset Waste Partnership is continuing to ask people to only visit if really necessary and to take full advantage of weekly kerbside recycling, rubbish and garden waste collections.
Unless you really need to, do not bring any materials your can recycle in your weekly recycling collections. If you want to recycle the many other materials usually taken at recycling sites, please hold on to them as what sites take is being widened step by step, the success of social distancing and site logistics. We will announce when other materials are added; no dates yet.
Mickey Green, Managing Director at SWP, said: “This is another big step forward and we thank everyone for their continued patience and understanding. Social distancing measures will remain for the foreseeable future, so the advice remains to only come if you really need to because you may find yourself facing a lengthy wait.”
“We’re all trying to get back to as close to normal as possible, and in Somerset that means great recycling. Most people in Somerset recycle and that helps protect our environment and tackle climate change. Recycling everything you can and making sure it’s properly sorted into the containers helps us reuse and recycle more than 130,000 tonne of waste each year, of which more than 90% stays in the UK.”
