Fife recycling centres re-open on Monday – book your slot now

Five Fife waste recycling centres are set to re-open on Monday, the council has confirmed.

People must book a slot online before attending any of the recycling centres and not just turn up there. 

Strict guidelines and changes to how recycling centres are run will be in place to keep local people and staff safe.

Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes, St Andrews  and Lochgelly household waste recycling centres will be open to the public seven days a week from 1st June, with bookable slots from 9.10am to 5.30pm.

However, the council is not able to offer a full service as soon as it opens.

Initially, only the following waste is being accepted at the sites: landfill, green garden waste, paper and cardboard and cans and plastics.

This is to alleviate the pressure of increased household waste during lockdown, to keep people safe and help more people use the site in the early days, says the council.

Robin Baird, chief operating officer of Fife Resource Solutions, which runs recycling services on behalf of Fife Council, said: “We know that this is an extremely difficult time for many people. Our top priority is to make sure both local people and our staff are kept safe, which is why stringent health and safety requirements, including sanitisation, social distancing and traffic management are now in place across our recycling centres that are re-opening.

“Recycling centre visits must be booked, or you will not be allowed access. We know that initial demand will be high, so please only book a visit to any recycling centre if you have waste that poses a health or fire risk and cannot safely be stored at home.”

Recycling centre visitors must:

• Have booked an available appointment online: fife.gov.uk/recyclingcentres This service is now available.
• Check to see if your waste materials can be taken to the site. Only limited materials are being accepted at present: landfill, green garden waste, paper and cardboard and cans and plastics.
• Arrive at your allocated time that you have booked online. There may be delays accessing the site and possibly queues of waiting vehicles. Please bear with us as we work safely on the site to limit contact between people.
• Have their ID and proof of Fife address with them – driving licence or council tax bill.
• Have only one person per vehicle. Blue Badge holders or those with dependants that cannot be left at home are the exceptions. Even in these circumstances, only one person is allowed to leave the vehicle when on site.
• Staff will not be able to assist with disposing of the items on site, so please make sure you can lift what you bring.
• Travel by car. No vans, trailers or pickups are currently allowed on sites.
• Only book one visit a week by car per household.

These measures will be reviewed as time goes on.

The recycling centres booking system is currently enabling people to book for the first three days – 1, 2 and 3 June. The system effectiveness will be monitoried and will re-open again for bookings on Monday 1 June, and will take bookings for the remainder of the week.

The phased approach to booking allows for all the measures in relation to the safe opening of the sites to be reviewed, to ensure visitors and staff are kept safe, while at the same time maximising the service for Fife residents.

Councillor Ross Vettraino, Convenor of Fife Council’s Environment and Protective Services Committee, said, “The council would like to thank residents for continuing to recycle over this difficult period. With fortnightly emptying of food and garden waste bins (the brown bin) resuming from 1 June, the council is picking up all kerbside bins as usual.

“There will be a high demand for recycling centres when they re-open, so please continue to use your household bins for as much recycling and waste as much as possible. Bin capacity can be greatly increased if cans, bottles and cardboard containers are flattened, before being put in the bins.”

Over the first week of re-opening approximately 7,000 people will be able to visit Fife Council’s recycling centres, across the five that are open.