Coronavirus: Councils warn against rushing to rubbish tips as they reopen – and long queues form

People are being urged to not rush to rubbish tips when they reopen to avoid long queues after seven weeks of lockdown.

Many household waste and recycling centres closed at the beginning of the coronavirus lockdown on 23 March as they could not be operated within social distancing rules and to allow councils to focus on household waste collections.

The government has now said tips will reopen gradually, with social distancing and protective equipment for waste workers in place.

But after long queues were experienced in Greater Manchester over the weekend, residents have been urged by councils to avoid rushing to the tip and instead “reduce, reuse and recycle” wherever possible.

The amounts of household rubbish has been exacerbated by people embarking on spring cleaning clear-outs, DIY projects and gardening as they remain at home.

Fly-tipping increased by 75% after four weeks into the lockdown, research by ClearWaste found.

Nearly all councils have reported higher than usual levels of waste in recent weeks, but 89% are continuing to operate normal “black bag” collections and the rest are only seeing minor disruptions.

The District Councils’ Network and County Councils’ Network warned not everyone will be able to dump their rubbish at tips if the number of people queuing is too high.

They said four-fifths of recycling collections continue to operate as normal and two-thirds of food waste collections are going ahead as normal.

But, less than a third of councils are operating a normal bulky waste collection.

Many councils have seen reductions to their waste teams, with staff self-isolating and collections disrupted by the need for social distancing.

Local government secretary Robert Jenrick said reopening tips in a staged manner is “sensible” and the “right thing to do”.

“The longer we delay it, the longer those queues are going to be when the waste sites reopen,” he said.

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Dan Humphreys, from the District Councils’ Network, said: “We appreciate how hard people have been working to keep on top of waste but we would like to stress that it won’t be possible for everyone to suddenly get rid of any rubbish they have built up over recent weeks all in one go.”

An Environment Department (Defra) spokeswoman added that people should only visit a waste and recycling centre if the journey is essential.

(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: Councils warn against rushing to rubbish tips as they reopen – and long queues form