Cheddar Recycling Centre: Site could reopen following call from government minister

Cheddar Recycling Centre could soon be reopened following a call by local government secretary Robert Jenrick.

The recycling centre was closed by Somerset Waste Partnership following the initial government advice that travelling there was not essential, and workers have been redeployed to waste collection teams instead.

Yesterday (April 28) Mr Jenrick said he had written to councils telling them to plan to reopen recycling centres.

"Our bin men and women have done a fantastic job maintaining the vast majority of collections," Mr Jenrick told the Commons.

"I'm asking councils to plan the organised reopening of household waste collection sites. I expect this to happen over the coming weeks and will be publishing amended guidance shortly."

The Local Councils Association has said: "The government has now indicated that they want councils to reopen their centres and local authorities have already begun preparations to do just that in the coming weeks.

"This will not be without its challenges – requiring social distancing measures, traffic management and co-ordination across the country.

"Most importantly, there needs to be clear guidance to both the police and the public as to what constitutes an essential journey to a household waste recycling centre during lockdown."

As well as shutting down Cheddar Recycling Centre, the partnership has suspended all garden waste collections and requests for bins, recycling boxes and food waste caddies.

Senior communications officer for Somerset Waste Partnership, Nick Cater, told Cheddar Nub News this morning (April 29) that the partnership had not yet seen the new guidance from the government.

He said: "Detailed planning is underway to ensure safety of both residents and staff, within government guidance, and alongside restoration of all waste services, again if safe for all and assuming we have sufficient staff for all tasks. No dates have been decided yet but we are working on it."