West Sussex rubbish tips ‘closed until further notice’ during coronavirus pandemic

West Sussex’s rubbish tips will be ‘closed until further notice’ due to the coronavirus pandemic, it has been confirmed.
One of West Sussex's rubbish tipsOne of West Sussex's rubbish tips
One of West Sussex's rubbish tips

West Sussex County Council runs 11 Household Waste Recycling Sites where residents are able to dispose of bulky unwanted items and materials.

However due to the coronavirus outbreak the county council has made the decision to close all sites until further notice.

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The sites are run by Viridor which made the decision with the county council to reinforce the needfor social distancing, protect staff and highway safety as a number of sites have been experiencing long queues.

Deborah Urquhart, West Sussex County Council cabinet member for environment, said: “With the Government’s advice for people to carry out social distancing last week, a lot of residents have taken to doing some home improvements or getting out in the garden to have a clear out.

“Unfortunately, with an increased number of visitors Viridor has advised us they would be unable to guarantee that residents will be able to socially distance themselves from one another and this means that the safety of residents and staff are put at risk. This is something we do not want to do and so we have made the decision to close all sites until further notice.

“We will be looking at measures that can be taken to enable us to re-open the sites safely, but for the time being we have no choice but to close them entirely.”

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A message on the Recycle for West Sussex website said: “All Household Waste Recycling Sites are CLOSED until further notice due to the current COVID-19 situation.

“Apologies for any inconvenience caused. Thank you for your cooperation during these difficult times.”

Meanwhile the county council tweeted: “All Household Waste Recycling Sites across West Sussex are now closed until further notice due to the current Covid-19 situation. This is to reinforce the need for social distancing, protecting staff & highway safety.”

To stay up-to-date with the latest information on your local HWRS, follow @WSRecycles on Facebook and Twitter or visit www.westsussex.gov.uk/coronavirus, where information on this and other county council services are available.