Hemel Hempstead Household Waste Recycling Centre will re-open this week

Hemel Hempstead's recycling centre will re-open tomorrow (Thursday) to allow residents, where essential, to dispose of waste that can not be put in their normal recycling bins or safely stored at home.

The site will open under tight social distancing controls, to protect visitors and staff. Residents should only visit a Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) if it is absolutely essential, for example if storing the waste at home represents a genuine health or safety risk.

Anyone in self-isolation, or with COVID-19 symptoms, must not visit a HWRC under any circumstances.

Residents will only be able to access a limited range of materials with containers prioritising garden waste, card, wood, rubble, non-recyclable waste, metal and electrical appliances (including large items like fridges / cookers).

The council can not accept plasterboard, commercial waste or textiles at the moment, and we can’t recycle materials that are normally collected at the kerbside, such as plastics, paper, cans or glass.

Terry Hone, Cabinet Member for Waste Management, said: “Although these sites are reopening, I would urge people to only visit if it’s genuinely essential.

"Most types of waste can be put in normal kerbside bins for collection, or stored safely at home, and this is a much better option at the moment.

"The social distancing measures we’re putting in place to protect our staff and the public mean that visits are taking a lot longer than normal and we’re seeing some very long queues.”

Just like in supermarkets, the reopened HWRCs have been being rearranged to ensure their safe use whilst also protecting site staff.

- Anyone in self-isolation, or with COVID-19 symptoms, must not visit the HWRCs under any circumstances.

- The centres will operate on a ‘one in, one out’ basis, with a limited number of vehicles allowed within the centre at any one time.

- Once in the centre visitors will be asked to follow identified pathways and queue, at a safe distance, to access each waste container.

- Staff will not be able to help you carry waste from your car to the containers.

- Site equipment, such as handrails and steps to access containers, will be regularly cleaned in line with public health advice.

- Please don’t use large vans or trailers as they cause significant queuing problems.

These measures are in place to protect residents and staff and must be followed. The council will close centres if an acceptable level of health and safety cannot be maintained.

For more details of site opening times and to check the queues on the live webcams visit: www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/hwrc.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper when you do your weekly shop.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.