Yahoo News Going to the tip when they re-open this weekend is 'perfectly legal', says minister
Going to your local tip when it reopens is “perfectly legal”, the Housing, Communities and Local Government secretary has said.
Robert Jenrick confirmed that some tips would reopen this weekend and said he hoped more would do so in the coming weeks, reassuring people that there is no reason that they shouldn’t go if they are open again.
“There is no reason why you cannot travel to a tip to put household waste there or do recycling. Councils should have the confidence to reopen them as soon as possible,” he said.
“Obviously don’t abuse it, but we know that there’s lots of people with rubbish and recycling and boxes from all those deliveries people are getting piling up in their homes, and it’s right that we manage that and make people’s lives a bit more bearable by getting that out of the house.”
He said that many councils may opt to reopen their sites in a “staged” manner due to large demand and it was the “sensible” and the “right thing to do”.
“The longer we delay it, the longer those queues are going to be when the waste sites reopen,” he added.
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Jenrick’s comments come amid growing concerns about the level of fly-tipping, with large piles of waste found in beauty spots and in city and town centres.
One council revealed the amount of waste fly-tipped in its area had surged three-fold in a matter of weeks after lockdown started.
West Oxfordshire District Council shared pictures on social media of rubbish dumped in a supermarket car park near recycling bins.
A spokesman said: “We have not calculated the exact tonnage data as yet but we can say we have seen a threefold increase in items at key sites which is forcing us to carry out additional collections with a dedicated crew and truck.
