All recycling centres across Wales were closed in March because public travel to the centres - for recycling and waste disposal - was classed as non-essential travel under the emergency Government regulations.

On Friday 8 May Welsh Government confirmed its plans to soon re-open HRCs across Wales and to permit travel to them.

Practical arrangements have been put in place and we can now reopen our five HRCs  at Buckley, Greenfield, Mold, Oakenholt and Sandycroft. 

These sites are open for essential journeys only.  Under the current guidelines, you should only make this journey if your waste is causing a hazard to health and cannot be stored at home.

The Council is following Government and industry guidance and has worked with other local authorities across Wales to agree the best approach based on local conditions within agreed safety guidelines.  Your safety, and the safety of our employees, is our top priority and all site users are expected to follow the site safety measures published.

You should not visit your local HRC if you, or someone who lives with you displays symptoms of Coronavirus. 

If you, or someone you live with, has symptoms of COVID-19 you should self isolate at home and not leave home for any reason.  Visit the Public Health Wales website for more information about self isolating. 

Self-isolating households should follow Government advice and store tissues and disposable cleaning cloths double-bagged, tied securely and separate from other waste for 72 hours before putting with general waste.  Don’t take this to the recycling centres - place it in your general waste bin at home. 

Under the current guidelines, you should only make this journey if your waste is causing a hazard to health and cannot be stored at home.  This includes:

• Visits which are essential to prevent injury, illness or harm to residents who have a problem with storing too much waste at home.
  
  
• Garden waste - the burning of garden waste at home not only causes a fire risk and places burden on the fire service, the smoke can also severely affect people who have breathing difficulties. 
  
  
• Hazardous materials such as asbestos are a risk to health and safety and cannot always be stored safely at home. .

You should only visit the HRC if it is essential, i.e. if waste materials cannot be stored at home without causing risk of injury or harm to health.

• We will only accept small amounts of waste.
• Please separate your waste before coming to site to speed up your visit.
• Black bag waste should only contain non-recyclable waste.  
• Only bring what you can safely carry/handle yourself.
• Be prepared to queue and follow the site safety measures.

We expect there will be high demand during the first week and you should expect to queue to get in.  You must stay inside your vehicle while you are queuing.  

The on-site team will be at the entrance to the site to check what waste you are disposing of and to advise you of the site safety measures.  They will tell you when you are able to enter the site. 

Please pay attention to container signs and only put your waste in the correct container. 

Do not use containers that have a barrier or signage saying ‘not in use’.

Remember to wear gloves where possible and wash your hands or use hand sanitiser when you leave the site.

Under the current guidelines, you should only make this journey if your waste is causing a hazard to health and cannot be stored at home.

The restrictions will be in place until such time as Government further relaxes its essential travel and/or social distancing regulations.

We are limiting the number of vehicles on to our sites to comply with Government social distancing guidelines

All users and employees need to keep a safe distance of two metres apart at all times.  

In order to meet the requirements of social distancing it is necessary to restrict the number of service users on the recycling centre to a level where the two-metre social distancing can be maintained.

We are limiting the number of vehicles on to our sites to comply with Government social distancing guidelines and the sites will be operating under a one in one out system. Therefore, it is expected that there will be delays. 

Please be patient and remain in your car whilst queuing. We appreciate it might be frustrating, but be assured staff are working hard in difficult conditions to get you through as quickly and safely as they can. 

On approach, there will be a member of staff to help manage the traffic, and another controlling the gate to the site. 

They will advise you when to enter the site and, provided social distancing is possible, guide you where to go on site.

You must follow their instructions at all times, as they are there to ensure that you and everyone else is kept safe.

The sites will have demarcation zones around parking bays to ensure that the 2-metre social distancing guidelines are maintained.

The sites will also be operating on a ‘one-vehicle-in-one-out’ basis.
Please continue to follow social distancing guidelines and maintain a two-metre distance between yourself, staff and any other members of the public on site at the same time.

Please be patient with these new controls, and work with us to keep everyone safe.  They are in place to help you and make sure you stay safe and can complete your trip in as quickly as possible.

To comply with social distancing regulations, employees are unable to assist visitors with their waste.  Residents are advised to only bring items they can safely carry themselves.  

If you have bulky items to dispose of, please either wait until we are able to accept these items, or alternatively you can book a bulky waste collection through our Contact Centre 01352 701234.

When collections are arranged please note that the following procedures are in place:

• Do not request a collection if you, or anyone you are living with, is in self-isolation or showing COVID-19 symptoms.
• The items must be placed outside the property but within your boundary (e.g. front garden/drive) from the time your collection has been agreed. 
• We cannot enter your home to assist with preparation or removal of items.
• The collection point for properties with difficult access e.g. flats, will be discussed prior to a booking being made.
• We may refuse to collect any items that could impact the safety or health of our collection staff.
• We aim to collect your items within six working days, however this may take longer due to current restrictions. 

No high sided vehicles, vans, trailers or permit holders are being allowed entry currently (smaller car-derived vans/4x4s are able to enter – see FAQs for further information); however, we will be able to accept trailers and vans with permits from Monday, 8th June 2020.  Small single axles trailers will be allowed to access the sites without a permit.
The reintroduction of vans and twin axle trailers is the final phase of reopening the household recycling centres and residents with these vehicles will be able to access all sites from 9am on Monday 8 June 2020, as long as they are registered as a permit holder with Flintshire County Council and are carrying only household waste from the driver’s own private dwelling.

** If you are making an essential trip to the recycling centre in the next few days, please do not bring textiles. Continue to store them at home until further notice. We are currently unable to accept textiles as the company that takes our textile recycling is unable to collect. **

You should only visit the HRC if it is essential, to bring waste materials that cannot be stored at home without causing risk of injury or harm to health.

Textiles do not cause risk of injury or harm to human health.  Residents are requested to continue to store bagged textiles at home.

Our centres are open for small amounts of garden, DIY and hazardous waste. 

The sites are operating at a high capacity and we want to help those who need to dispose of waste that is causing a hazard at home.

We recognise that people will have been doing some small DIY jobs during the lockdown. 

We would continue to advise people not to take on big DIY jobs or spring cleans whilst essential travel regulations are still in place. 

Please separate waste before coming to site to help speed up your journey through the site.

Only bring what you can safely handle as site staff will not be able to assist you as they normally would.

Stay safe – wear protective gloves, appropriate footwear and clothing.

Sites can accept small amounts of waste – no more than a car boot load. 

You can take other waste to our sites, but please ensure that it is separated beforehand to speed up your visit.

We will not accept black bags that contain food and/or recyclables.

Under the current guidelines, you should only make a journey to the Household Recycliing Centre if your waste is causing a hazard to health and cannot be stored at home.

If you have bulky items to dispose of, please either wait until we are able to accept these items, or alternatively you can book a bulky waste collection through our Contact Centre 01352 701234.

When collections are arranged please note that the following procedures are in place:

• Do not request a collection if you, or anyone you are living with, is in self-isolation or showing COVID-19 symptoms.
• The items must be placed outside the property but within your boundary (e.g. front garden/drive) from the time your collection has been agreed. 
• We cannot enter your home to assist with preparation or removal of items.
• The collection point for properties with difficult access e.g. flats, will be discussed prior to a booking being made.

We may refuse to collect any items that could impact the safety or health of our collection staff.

We aim to collect your items within six working days, however this may take longer due to current restrictions. 

Under the current guidelines, you should only make a journey to the Household Recycling Centre if your waste is causing a hazard to health and cannot be stored at home.

If you have bulky items to dispose of, please either wait until we are able to accept these items, or alternatively you can book a bulky waste collection through our Contact Centre 01352 701234.

When collections are arranged please note that the following procedures are in place:

• Do not request a collection if you, or anyone you are living with, is in self-isolation or showing COVID-19 symptoms.
• The items must be placed outside the property but within your boundary (e.g. front garden/drive) from the time your collection has been agreed. 
• We cannot enter your home to assist with preparation or removal of items.
• The collection point for properties with difficult access e.g. flats, will be discussed prior to a booking being made.

We may refuse to collect any items that could impact the safety or health of our collection staff.

We aim to collect your items within six working days, however this may take longer due to current restrictions. 

To comply with social distancing regulations, staff are unable to assist visitors with their waste and only one person will be permitted outside of their vehicle. 

Residents are advised to only bring items they can carry themselves.

If you have bulky items to dispose of, please either wait until we are able to accept these items, or alternatively you can book a bulky waste collection through our Contact Centre 01352 701234. 

When collections are arranged please note that the following procedures are in place:

• Do not request a collection if you, or anyone you are living with, is in self-isolation or showing COVID-19 symptoms.
• The items must be placed outside the property but within your boundary (e.g. front garden/drive) from the time your collection has been agreed. 
• We cannot enter your home to assist with preparation or removal of items.
• The collection point for properties with difficult access e.g. flats, will be discussed prior to a booking being made.

We may refuse to collect any items that could impact the safety or health of our collection staff.

We aim to collect your items within six working days, however this may take longer due to current restrictions. 

Remember, under the current guidelines, you should only make this journey if your waste is causing a hazard to health and cannot be stored safely at home.

The demand at our centres will be high in the first week of opening and you should expect to queue to access the site. 

To comply with social distancing regulations the number of vehicles on-site at any one time will be restricted and a one-in, one-out system will be in operation. 

For the safety of the public and our employees a traffic management system will be place at all five HRCs and queuing outside of the sites may be restricted.  If the queues spill out onto the public highway and cause a risk, we may move people on or ask you to return at a later time.   

To help manage demand and reduce queues please only visit if it is essential.  

Demand will reduce over a short period of time.  Leaving your visit for a couple of weeks may prevent the need for you to queue at all. 

We ask for your continued support and patience.

All five HRCs will be operating a one-in,-one-out system and it is expected there will be significant delays in the first week or so after reopening.

To help manage demand please only visit if it is essential.  

Demand will reduce over a short period of time.  Leaving your visit for a couple of weeks may significantly reduce your visit time. 

We ask for your continued support and patience.

No high sided vehicles, vans, trailers or permit holders are being allowed entry currently (smaller car-derived vans/4x4s are able to enter – see FAQs for further information); however, we will be able to accept trailers and vans with permits from Monday, 8th June 2020.  Small single axles trailers will be allowed to access the sites without a permit.

The reintroduction of vans and twin axle trailers is the final phase of reopening the household recycling centres and residents with these vehicles will be able to access all sites from 9am on Monday 8 June 2020, as long as they are registered as a permit holder with Flintshire County Council and are carrying only household waste from the driver’s own private dwelling.

If you have a valid and current permit, you will be able to use our household recycling centre from Monday, 8th June 2020.   

No high sided vehicles, vans, trailers or permit holders are being allowed entry currently (smaller car-derived vans/4x4s are able to enter – see FAQs for further information); however, we will be able to accept trailers and vans with permits from Monday, 8th June 2020.  Small single axles trailers will be allowed to access the sites without a permit.

The reintroduction of vans and twin axle trailers is the final phase of reopening the household recycling centres and residents with these vehicles will be able to access all sites from 9am on Monday 8 June 2020, as long as they are registered as a permit holder with Flintshire County Council and are carrying only household waste from the driver’s own private dwelling.

Vans and trailers take significantly longer to empty their waste on site and take up more space on site therefore reducing the number of residents who can use this service.  Since the introduction of social distancing measures on sites has reduced the availability of space even further, we are restricting the number of trailers on site at any one time.

We are aware that some permits will have expired during the lockdown period and we will therefore be extending these permits for a period of 3 months until the end of September 2020 to allow for their re-issue.  So, if your permit has expired in the last 3 months, your permit will be extended until the end of September 2020.  Please bring your expired permit with you when you visit the site and display it clearly in the windscreen of your vehicle so that site staff can see it and check you are eligible to visit the site.

If you have an older permit and it expired more than 3 months ago, you will not be able to access the sites and will need to wait until we can accept new applications.  

We are currently planning the application process for new applications and further information will be posted here soon.  We are working quickly to set this up, but our priority has been to open the centres to households first and then existing permit holders.

 

For a limited period we are restricting access to our centres to cars only. This is due to available space on site and to help reduce queuing and off-loading times.

For the time being high sided vehicles, vans or trailers are unable to access recycling centres.  Smaller car-derived vans/4x4s can enter. 

This restriction also applies to charities using a high sided vehicle, van or trailer. 

Commercial businesses cannot use the recycling sites.

No high sided vehicles, vans, trailers or permit holders are being allowed entry currently (smaller car-derived vans/4x4s are able to enter – see FAQs for further information); however, we will be able to accept trailers and vans with permits from Monday, 8th June 2020.  Small single axles trailers will be allowed to access the sites without a permit.

The reintroduction of vans and twin axle trailers is the final phase of reopening the household recycling centres and residents with these vehicles will be able to access all sites from 9am on Monday 8 June 2020, as long as they are registered as a permit holder with Flintshire County Council and are carrying only household waste from the driver’s own private dwelling. 

Vans and trailers take significantly longer to empty their waste on site and take up more space on site therefore reducing the number of residents who can use this service.  Since the introduction of social distancing measures on sites has reduced the availability of space even further, we are restricting the number of trailers on site at any one time.

We are aware that some permits will have expired during the lockdown period and we will therefore be extending these permits for a period of 3 months until the end of September 2020 to allow for their re-issue.  So, if your permit has expired in the last 3 months, your permit will be extended until the end of September 2020.  Please bring your expired permit with you when you visit the site and display it clearly in the windscreen of your vehicle so that site staff can see it and check you are eligible to visit the site.

If you have an older permit and it expired more than 3 months ago, you will not be able to access the sites and will need wait until we can accept new applications.
  
We are currently planning the application process for new applications and further information will be posted here soon.  We are working quickly to set this up, but our priority has been to open the centre to households first and then existing permit holders.

The quickest and easiest way for you to check if your van is a car-derived van (CDV) is to look on your vehicle registration document (VC5) it will be recorded under body type. 

According to DVLA - car derived vans (CDV) are:

• designed to weigh no more than 2 tonnes when loaded fully
• based on car designs or the vehicle is built from a platform which has been designed and developed to be built as a car or a van by the same manufacturer

As a general rule, from the outside, these vehicles will look like the size of a car, but on the inside the vehicle will look like and function as a van, because:

• there will be no rear seats, rear seat belts or mountings
• there will be a payload area with floor panel in the rear of the vehicle
• there will be no side windows in the rear of the vehicle - or if present, side windows will be opaque and fixed (with no means of opening or closing).

Visits are classed as essential when they will prevent injury, illness or harm to residents who have a problem with storing too much waste at home.

We are keeping up to date with Government guidance. As regulations are relaxed and it's safe to do so we'll confirm back-to-normal arrangements.  

Please check our website, local press or social media for updates.  

Thank you for your continued support and patience.