Everything you need to know about Shropshire's recycling centre booking system now in force

Those visiting the centres will now need to book in advance, with slots available up to six days in advance.

All residents living in the Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council areas will be able to book to visit one of the centres – located in Craven Arms, Bridgnorth, Oswestry, Shrewsbury and Whitchurch.

Bookings for cars, vans and trailers can be made online via the Shropshire Council website – or by phone by calling the council’s customer services team.

Fifteen-minute slots will be available for cars, with 30-minutes slots (or 60 minutes at weekends) available for vans/trailers.

Ian Nellins, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member with responsibility for waste management, said: “Many other councils already use booking systems at their recycling centres, or are planning to introduce one.

"Our contractor Veolia already successfully runs booking systems at a number of recycling centres.  These booking systems have led to a significant increase in recycling, and helped to smooth demand throughout the day, reducing congestion and queuing and making the sites safer. We’re confident that will be the case here in Shropshire too.

“Shropshire Council needs to make significant savings this year and introducing a booking system in Shropshire will help us to save money by reducing the cost of disposing of trade waste, non-recyclable waste and waste brought to the sites from outside the county.

“And it’s important to stress that other councils that already have booking systems haven’t found any evidence that the booking process has increased fly-tipping levels.”

Shropshire Council say the new system will save them money by reducing the cost of disposing of trade waste, non-recyclable waste and waste from outside Shropshire.

It will also help the council reduce congestion and queuing times, increase recycling as centre staff will be able to better engage with visitors, and reduce the amount of trade waste taken to the centres.

However, residents who pay council tax to either Shropshire Council or Telford & Wrekin Council are able to use recycling centres in each other’s areas, but will need to book a slot to visit one of the Shropshire Council’s five centres.

While no booking is required to use the Telford & Wrekin Council recycling centres in Halesfield and Hortonwood, the authority said it will be 'monitoring the impact' of the Shropshire Council booking plans, and said they could "review how we operate" the sites if its own residents become affected by the changes.

For more information about the booking system and to make an online booking, go to shropshire.gov.uk/recyciingcentrebooking