Hanford and Burslem Tip will open for longer and accommodate more vehicles

Stoke-on-Trent City Council has announced that both household waste and recycling centres in Hanford and Federation Road, Burslem will revert to their summer opening times, with restrictions still in place for the safety and wellbeing of visitors and workers, in response to the coronavirus.

The facilities will now be open on the following times:

• Hanford will open Wednesday-Friday 8am-5.30pm and weekends 8am-4.30pm.
• Federation Road, Burslem will open Monday, Tuesday and Friday 9am -5.30pm and weekends 9am-4.30pm.

The number of vehicles that can be accommodated at each site is also increasing:

• Hanford is increasing from four vehicles to eight.
• Burslem is increasing from three vehicles to five.

Existing permit holders will also be able to use both sites. Traffic management will remain in place at both centres, but some changes will be made at Federation Road, with vehicles no longer being able to queue onto Westport Road. This is to ensure access remains clear at the adjacent St Nathaniel’s Academy. Instead, more vehicles will be accommodated to queue safely onto the tip site, and to queue along Federation Road as before.

Both sites remain open to Stoke-on-Trent residents only, and the same health and safety and on-site restrictions remain in place for the wellbeing of visitors and workers, and to ensure social distancing can be maintained. Residents are still advised to only visit the tips if it is essential at this time.

Both sites reopened with restricted access in place on 14 May, in line with national guidance in response to the coronavirus.

Since then, 6,463 vehicles have unloaded a total of 222 tonnes of waste at both sites – the equivalent weight of 550 race horses. A total of 62 per cent of waste unloaded at the tips has been black bag/household waste – some 137 tonnes worth. In comparison, during the whole of last year, a total of 39 per cent of all the waste unloaded at the tips was black bag/household waste. A total of 25 tonnes of garden waste has been brought to the tips since 14 May, and the amount of wood waste taken to the tips has risen from a monthly average of 10 per cent to 14 per cent.

There has also been a 20 per cent increase in the weight of all waste types in the city, since the coronavirus restrictions were introduced in March. Significantly, this includes blue bin recycling collections, with bins containing more glass bottles, particularly with an increase in people drinking at home while the pubs are shut.

Councillor Brown said: “It is down to residents following the restrictions and using the tip sites responsibly that we have been able to accommodate so many vehicles at the centres, and we’d really like to thank people for continuing to follow the rules.

“We are extending the opening hours and accommodating more vehicles on site, with careful consideration for social distancing. Our staff will be on hand to support people to ensure that public health guidelines continue to be followed.

“We still encourage people to only make a visit to the tip if it is essential, there will still be queues and people should allow plenty of time for the visit. Staff on site have been tremendous in keeping services going at this time.”