All four tidy tips set to reopen in Central Bedfordshire on Monday

Central Bedfordshire Council are set to reopen all four of their Household Waste Recycling Centres in Ampthill, Biggleswade, Leighton Buzzard and Thorn Turn (near Dunstable) on Monday (11 May), following new government guidelines.
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The sites will be open during the usual times of 9am – 5pm, 7 days a week for Central Bedfordshire residents only. This is for essential visits only for waste that would cause a risk to health and safety to store at home.

To help manage this, residents will be required to book a half-hour slot in advance to access the tidy tip. Residents can do this on the council website at www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/tidytips.

Timed slots are now available to book up to Sunday, 17 May. Further slots will be made available shortly and will be published on the council website.

The tidy tip at Leighton BuzzardThe tidy tip at Leighton Buzzard
The tidy tip at Leighton Buzzard

To protect residents and staff there will be limits on the number of vehicles allowed on site at any one time to allow for social distancing. This means there may be delays accessing the site and queues outside of the site.

The sites will operate on a ‘one in, one out’ basis. Once in the facility you will be asked to follow identified pathways and queue, at a safe distance, to access each waste container.

Only cars, 4x4s small vans (e.g. Combo van) and cars with trailers will be permitted on site. (Usual restrictions on vehicles and trailer size apply). This is to ensure that unloading times are reduced as far as possible to allow the maximum number of visits per hour.

The sites will accept the usual materials, but this may be subject to change. Residents are advised to have a maximum of two adults per car and to only bring loads that they can comfortably manage to handle by themselves as the site staff are unable to offer any physical assistance.

The council are reminding residents of the government advice, to protect workers and combat the spread of infection. Anyone who is shielding, self-isolating or feels ill (whether diagnosed with COVID-19 or not) must not visit the sites under any circumstances.

Councillor Ian Dalgarno, our Executive Member for Community Services, said: “We are really pleased to be re-opening our recycling sites to the public and are currently preparing so that we can safely accommodate social distancing measures.

“We are asking our residents to support us in this approach; to keep waste at home unless it is a risk to health or safety and to be tolerant when queuing and using the sites. They should continue storing their items for disposal, recycling or reuse at a later date or to use our kerbside waste and recycling service where possible. In this way we will be able to keep the sites open for essential use and help the service run as smoothly as possible.

“Residents can also help by continuing to home compost either with a heap or a subsidised compost bin. Bulky waste collections are also available to residents for a reasonable cost for up to 12 items.”

“Keep checking our website for any new advice on measures that will be implemented to assist reductions in turnaround time for resident visits.”