Users reminded to book in advance before visiting household waste recycling centres

Visitors to Oxfordshire’s seven household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) are reminded that a booking system is now in operation.

Customers must book a slot online on Oxfordshire County Council’s website before visiting their HWRC. Bookings are available up to two weeks in advance or 30 minutes prior, subject to availability.

Residents without internet access can book slots over the telephone by contacting the council’s customer service centre on 01865 519800 between 8.45am - 5pm, Monday – Thursday, and 8.45am - 4pm on Fridays.

Oxfordshire customers are also reminded to bring proof of address with them when visiting an HWRC – such as a driving licence or recent utility or council tax bill – as visitors from outside the county will be charged £15.

Councillor Judy Roberts, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Place, Environment and Climate Action, said: “Between the booking system going live on 14 January and 1 March there have been more than 58,000 visits to Oxfordshire’s HWRCs.

“Around 74 per cent of these visitors booked in advance, so we really need to ensure that the other 26 per cent are aware that they need to book in advance. It only takes two minutes to make a booking online.”

To date, there has been good availability and far less queueing on sites. The most popular slots have been on weekends, particularly between 11am and 2pm.

As well as better traffic management, the booking system can increase recycling rates as staff are able to help visitors separate their recyclable from their non recyclable waste.

Analysis has shown up to 60 per cent of material deposited in the non recyclable containers is, in fact, recyclable. Customers are asked to sort all their recycling, ideally before arriving at an HWRC.

For those attending with unsorted waste, sorting stations are available to help separate out as much recycling as possible. This is better for the environment and helps the council to avoid larger disposal costs.

Residents can use the Waste Wizard search tool, found at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/wastewizard, if they are not sure what they can and can’t recycle. They can also ask site staff at their local HWRC.

While some residents may be concerned that the booking system will cause fly-tipping to increase, the changes implemented are quite commonplace in other local authorities and have been in place at some for quite a while.

Their experiences have shown this does not lead to a rise in fly-tipping and, so far, there has not been an increase observed in Oxfordshire as the vast majority of residents are law abiding and will dispose of their waste responsibly. The council will continue to monitor the situation.

The booking system, which was introduced on 14 January, will also help manage demand across the HWRC network when Redbridge HWRC is closed later this year for around three months for essential safety work.

Redbridge sees the most visitors of all the sites, and it is expected that these customers will go to their nearest alternative. The booking system will help manage the increased demand at the other sites.

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