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Manchester Evening News

National

Alexandra Rucki & Adam Maidment

The recycling centres across Greater Manchester which will reopen this weekend

Most of Greater Manchester's waste and recycling centres will reopen this weekend.

The centres will be open from Saturday, May 2, for bagged general waste only and residents will need to bring proof of address with them.

Some centres, including Longley Lane in Sharston and Reliance Street in Newton Heath and Miles Platting, will only be open at weekends.

Other centres will see varying opening times.

Social distancing measures will be in place to ensure the health and safety of visitors and staff.

In order to control the number of vehicles accessing the centres, a traffic control system will also be introduced based on odd and even number plates.

Working on a four week rota, the system will enable staff to limit the amount of traffic visiting and limit the potential for the virus to spread.

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: "I want to thank the people of Greater Manchester for their patience while these facilities have been closed.

"At every stage of this process we’ve taken decisions based on the official guidance, which has been about limiting non-essential journeys and reinforcing the Stay At Home message.

"Now that the Government guidance has been updated, we have taken a collective decision to reopen some of our centres.

"There will be localised traffic management in place to control queuing, with each council taking steps to ensure that centres can reopen and operate safely."

Longley Lane Household Waste Recycling Centre in Sharston (Alan Hamer)

Bosses had previously announced that centres in Rochdale would reopen on May 2, but has decided to extend the plans after recent guidance.

The Greater Manchester Waste Authority agreed at last week’s Greater Manchester COVID-19 Emergency Committee to reopen recycling centres across the authority.

Based on Government guidelines, staffing, accessibility, and the agreement of traffic management plans with local authorities, the reopening will be carefully managed with assistance from Greater Manchester Police.

Coun Andrew Western, GMCA Lead for the Green City-Region said: “The vast majority of people across our city-region have followed the Government’s advice, staying at home to help limit the spread of this virus and help frontline NHS staff and carers do their jobs,".

"The new measures in place are part of that same effort, so we’re asking people to be sensible and help us reopen in the safest way possible."

Manchester's Mayor reiterated the importance for people to still follow lockdown measures and only make essential trips to a waste or recycling centre.

"While we are reopening centres, this is not a return to normal," Mr Burnham added.

"We would ask the public to limit their journeys and only travel to a household waste and recycling centre if it is absolutely essential to do so.

"If the situation becomes unmanageable we may have to reassess this decision, but that is not something we want to do and, I hope, will not become necessary.

"Let’s everyone stay safe and look after each other at this difficult time.”

The full list of centres reopening and their opening times are below.

Doorstep collections for general waste continue as normal throughout all boroughs.