Shepshed tip re-opens

Residents are asked to book in advance online to ensure social distancing can be maintained.

Leicestershire County Council re-opens it's Shepshed recycling and household waste site today, taking the total number of sites open across the county to eight.

The first seven sites are open seven days per week, while Shepshed will retain its original five-day operating pattern, including weekends.

Residents are being asked to book in advance online to ensure social distancing can be maintained.

A spokesperson from Leicestershire County Council said: "bookings at waste sites are steady, says the council, with between 600 and 1400 bookings per day – and over 41,000 bookings in total so far since sites re-opened in mid-May.

There has been good availability at all sites, with Mountsorrel and Lount the busiest – at 90 per cent capacity most days."

Other changes at sites include different types of waste/ recycling being accepted, and cars with trailers being allowed on site for the first time on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. Visitors to sites will now be able to bring cardboard and scrap metal.

Traffic management was in place when sites first re-opened, but this has now been relaxed and currently there are no traffic marshals in place. 

Councillor Trevor Pendleton, county council cabinet member for waste disposal said: "We’d like to thank everyone who has visited the sites for using the booking system, turning up for their slots on time and helping us to make everything run smoothly and keep everybody safe. 

We also appreciate that, in some situations, people have had to travel further than they normally would to dispose of waste. We have at least one site open in each district, and even without all of our sites being open, each site in Leicestershire serves a smaller geographic area than many of our neighbouring counties.

Aside from these changes, we’re still working on what happens in the future and are continuing to work up plans to ensure we can offer a safe and resilient service going forward"