FAQs

At the end of March 2020, at an early point in the first lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, West Sussex County Council (WSCC) temporarily closed it’s 11 Recycling Centres to help reinforce the government’s ‘stay at home’ message. In the wake of guidelines published by the government, Recycling Centres reopened on 15 May 2020.  In order to improve social distancing for the benefit of visitors and staff, controls were imposed on the types of waste accepted, the number of vehicles on site at one time and the number of people allowed out per vehicle. Some of the restrictions were eased by degrees through the summer of 2020. 

In the week following Christmas 2020 and into the early part of 2021, the Recycling Centres experienced unusually high demand.  At some Recycling Centres this resulted in disruptive queuing that delayed users and impaired access for surrounding residents and businesses.  The increased risk to public highway users due to queuing led the Police to instruct closure of some Recycling Centres.  Queuing times were typically 45 minutes and, in some cases, up to an hour and 30 minutes. 

This level of demand was unusual in the winter months and led to concerns that the Recycling Centres and surrounding roads could be even more badly affected during the spring period when Centres are used more than in the winter.   

After consideration by elected councillors, it was decided to implement a booking system, on a trial basis, from 29 March 2021 to help manage the demand at the 6 Recycling Centres where queuing caused the most problems for other road users. 

In addition to help with social distancing the scheme has    

• Largely eliminated queuing
• Reduced traffic at and around the Centres because customers are visiting less often and bringing more per load
• Allowed direct communications with booked customers about Recycling Centre operation issues which occur occasionally 
• Reduced disruption to customers as Recycling Centre maintenance can be planned in line with customer demand

We are keen to hear views on the future use of the booking system.  The information received from this consultation will help councillors to decide whether the scheme should be made permanent at the trial Recycling Centres and / or whether it should be modified or extended.   

We are therefore very keen for you to have your say. All comments are welcome, but we are keen to hear from those who have used the booking system. 

The Consultation opens on 10 November 2021 and closes on 21 December 2021. 

West Sussex operates 11 Recycling Centres, which provide facilities for residents to re-use, recycle and safely dispose of more than 25 different types of waste.  In a normal year this network receives approximately 110,000 tonnes of waste and over 1.5 million visits by the residents. Around 74% of material received is recycled or composted.   

West Sussex Recycling Centres (RCs):

The booking system is available on the West Sussex County Council website where customers can book to visit one of the following 6 trial centres: 

• Bognor Regis
• Crawley
• Horsham (Hop Oast)
• Littlehampton
• Shoreham
• Worthing

At four of the centres, users are booked into a 30-minute slot and can arrive at any point in that period. At Bognor and Shoreham, both small centres, this is reduced to 15 minutes due to the very limited space for waiting vehicles.   

Appointments are available up to 14 days in advance and must be booked at least 24 hours before your visit (same day appointments are currently not available but we would address this if the scheme is to be made permanent). 

Bookings are made by using the registration number of the vehicle visitors use to attend the Recycling Centre.  A confirmation is sent by e-mail. A telephone option is also available and around 6% of bookings are made in this way. Since the start of the scheme over 420,000 bookings have been made.  

Initially the trial allowed only 1 trip to be made per household per week.  However, since 1^st June 2021 householders can now make a total of five trips in a calendar month.

The booking system has a dedicated feedback function and WSCC has taken the views of visitors that have used the system.  

During July 2021, a Recycling Centre satisfaction survey by an independent company was carried out to seek specific feedback about the booking system. Just under 1000 customers took part.  

The main results were: 

• Overall, 75% of booking centre users found the experience excellent 
• 87% of booking centre users found the system easy to use 
• On average 78% of booking centre users found that booking slots were available at convenient times for them 
• Overall, 79% of booking centre users thought the booking system should be made permanent 
• 81% of booking centre users felt that the new system had improved queuing time 
• Overall, 77% of respondents visiting a centre operating without a booking system did not want to trial a booking system 
• On average 61% of non-booking centre users felt the booking system would not improve the queuing times 

The results indicated that a high proportion of users of Recycling Centres currently operating a booking system were happy with this system and were in favour of keeping it in place. 

Improvements to the current booking system were suggested by centre users; the most important of which being the provision for ‘on the day’ booking being added (61%). 

The majority of users of Recycling Centres currently operating without a booking system were not in favour of introducing a booking system and did not feel the implementation of the current booking system would improve queuing times. 

We have also received feedback through other channels such as social media comments, via Recycling Centre site staff, and emails from customers. Many of the issues or concerns raised have helped us to improve the booking system. We are however interested to hear views and ideas for further improvements.

Feedback since we started using the booking system suggests that many visitors have found it convenient and useful but that some would still prefer to just turn up without booking. 

From the feedback we have received so far, the advantages of the booking system include:  

• reduced traffic queueing at the Recycling Centres, particularly at the Centres where there have been complaints from Sussex Police, bus operators, local residents, local businesses as well as customers queuing to use the service
• certainty that customers will be able to access the Centres and has reduced wasted car journeys
• customers are bringing their waste in bulk, therefore visiting less frequently, which reduces traffic movements
• reduced queueing, traffic movements and wasted journeys benefit the environment and local air quality
• customers have been able to plan their time more effectively with the certainty of a booking and less time spent in queues
• Booking slots can be tailored to allow emergency or short maintenance tasks to be carried out without disruption to customers 
• We can email customers directly to let them know about any potential service issues. This has been useful when centres had to be closed due to high winds or other occasional short-term emergency responses. 
• Recycling Centre staff can spend more time supporting customers rather than managing traffic queues

The feedback has also told us that some users saw drawbacks which include:

• customers cannot make spontaneous ‘on the day’ decisions about visiting a Centre 
• customers with larger volumes of household waste may have to estimate how many trips are needed rather than making unlimited multiple visits
• in the initial two months of the booking system, customers were limited to one visit per week. This has since been relaxed to five visits per month and this policy has generally been received better by users.

We don’t expect continued use of a booking system to make significant savings. Aside from the fixed costs of running the centre - which do not change with a booking system - what we pay is linked to the volume of waste received. It is difficult to compare the last 12 months with a “normal” year due to the effects of Covid-19, but total overall volumes of waste have reduced slightly. This may be partially accounted for by the exclusion of illegal use of the centre by traders. 

Maintaining the booking website costs £18,000 a year, the majority of additional costs arise from offering a telephone option for booking. 

Based on the data from the trial, making the scheme permanent will be broadly-cost neutral.

Whether or not the traders concerned knew they were acting illegally, the scheme has reduced the amount of commercial waste being received into a service provided for, and funded by, householders. Most of this waste will now be properly handled through legal commercial waste sites or collection services.  

There is no evidence of a rise in fly-tipping linked to the scheme.

The scheme has shown us that there is capacity within the centres to meet demand using the current pattern of opening days and times. The congestion problem has been caused by a large number of users turning up to use the centres at the most popular times. The booking scheme’s biggest success has been to help spread that demand out more evenly.   

Opening the centres for longer would increase the fixed costs of staffing, running equipment and power usage just to deal with the same amount of waste material. It would not change the preference of people to turn up at the most popular times.  

The Council must comply with the Equality Act 2010 and we must assess the impacts the booking system could have on people due to their protected characteristics (age, sex, gender identity, disability, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity, marriage, and civil partnership). We also consider impacts on carers’ responsibilities and geographical location as part of this assessment. 

Through this process we have identified there is potential for a negative impact in relation to age, sex, disability, and race but this risk is low.  

We recognise that some people may find it difficult to use the booking system and we want to make sure there are no barriers to accessing our Centres. We have made sure that the system is compliant with digital accessibility standards so that customers using screen readers or with low vision can use the website. For those who cannot access the internet, bookings can be made through WSCC’s Contact Centre. All documents are made available in alternative formats upon request.  

The initial Equalities Impact Assessment will be updated with the results of this consultation and will be attached to the decision report which will be made publicly available to view on the county council’s Decisions webpages. The final draft will be available upon request after this point.

Other Councils including Hampshire, Kent and West Berkshire have implemented booking systems for some or all Recycling Centres. 

Surrey and East Sussex County Councils have not implemented booking systems.   

The decision to implement a partial scheme in West Sussex was based on local circumstances – we implemented the scheme only where we have had a history of significant disruption.  

Where booking systems have been implemented elsewhere, users’ feedback has been broadly similar: most users like the benefits of the scheme and say they would prefer to keep it. 

After the consultation closes on 21^st December 2021, feedback from the consultation, alongside the Equality Impact Assessment, will be presented to the Cabinet Committee in March 2022 before a decision is made by the Cabinet Member for Environment & Climate Change. 

We will publish a consultation report, summarising the consultation responses, on our website at www.westsussex.gov.uk/recyclingcentrebooking. 

WSCC values all feedback and views provided. By completing the questionnaire, you will be helping us to ensure this service meets the needs of West Sussex residents.