A number of changes are being introduced at household waste recycling centres across Derbyshire.
The changes are set to come into place soon at all nine Derbyshire County Council run recycling centres which are situated at Ashbourne, Bolsover, Bretby, Chesterfield, Glossop, Ilkeston, Loscoe, Northwood (Darley Dale), and Waterswallows (near Buxton).
A spokesman for the council said: “Following a 12-week public consultation held from October last year, Cabinet Members agreed at a meeting on Thursday, March 14, to the following:

Charge a fee to dispose of tyres and asbestos
This is set at £4 per tyre and £6 per sheet.

Reduce opening hours at eight centres
We will continue to operate the recycling centres seven days a week but we’ll reduce the opening hours by two hours each day at eight of the centres when they are typically less busy. The new opening hours will be 9.30am to 5pm each day – except at Buxton where the current hours of 8.30am to 6pm will remain due to different contractual arrangements at that site.

Trial business waste disposal scheme
The development of a trial scheme to allow registered small businesses and sole traders to pay to use two of the recycling centres to dispose of business waste outside of the hours the centres are open to the public. A detailed plan for this trial scheme, proposed for centres in Ashbourne and Bolsover, will be presented to cabinet at a later date for approval.

Regarding the consultation responses about the changes, the council spokesman said: “There were 2,876 responses to the consultation, including 40 from businesses.
“83 per cent of residents and 80 per cent of businesses agreed that businesses should be able to use recycling centres for a charge.
“Around two thirds of respondents (66 per cent) would prefer recycling centres to continue to accept tyres without charge, and a similar proportion (69 per cent) would prefer that asbestos continued to be accepted for free. But 90 per cent of respondents said they would prefer a small charge to the sites not accepting these materials at all.
“78 per cent of respondents said they would prefer to reduce opening hours and keep the centres open seven days a week, rather than maintain the current opening hours over fewer days.
“No date has been set for the changes to be implemented but plans are being drawn-up for them to be introduced later this year.”
The Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Environment at Derbyshire County Council, Councillor Carolyn Renwick, said: “We’re constantly looking for ways to make the services we provide more efficient and effective.
“Having listened to the views of residents, we’re making some changes which we believe strike the right balance between continuing to provide a good quality service for residents, offering a service to help small businesses and sole traders and making savings.”

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