Essex booking system for waste centres set to be permanent

Cars will be given a 15-minute pre-booked time slot as part of the new booking system

A booking system for visiting 21 household waste recycling centres in Essex has proved "cost effective" and could soon be made permanent.

Essex County Council introduced a trial period of advance booking in March last year via the Love Essex website.

The council said it received 18,000 responses to a consultation and 58% of car users agreed it should be kept.

It is recommended the council's cabinet approve the system permanently when it meets on Tuesday.

The council said there had been concerns about flytipping, but no direct link had been identified between the introduction of the booking process and the level of reported rubbish being dumped illegally at roadsides and elsewhere, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

A statement from council officers said "the pilot has shown that the booking process is a cost effective way to make optimum use of available capacity across the recycling network to support the needs of the current and growing population of Essex".

Many other local authorities in England, including neighbouring Suffolk County Council, have retained the booking systems they first introduced during the 2020 pandemic lockdown, although Essex did not introduce one until later.