York’s tips reopen on Monday – here’s how to book a visit

What with spring cleaning, DIY and gardening, a lot of us need to visit the tip.

And York is to reopen its waste recycling centres from Monday (11 May) – but you can’t just load up the car and turn up.

To keep things at a safe social distance, people have to book an appointment to take their rubbish.

And you are only allowed to take items that cannot be safely stored at home.

Here’s what you need to know.

The rules

Hazel Court and Towthorpe will reopen by appointment only for everybody, including commercial waste customers and for essential use only.

“Journeys must only be undertaken if your waste or recycling cannot be stored safely at home or disposed of safely by other means,” says the council.

This means the storing of this waste risks injury, health or harm. No other reason for the journey would be considered a legitimate purpose.

“If you can temporarily store your waste or recycling in a way that does not pose a risk to yourself or others then you should continue to do so,” said a council spokesman.

Click before you tip

A waste disposal booking system- click before you tip – will launch at www.york.gov.uk/ClickBeforeYouTip  this afternoon (Thursday 7 May).  

On completing the booking form, residents and commercial customers will be given a date and time to visit the centre and a booking reference.

Residents will also be able to book a slot by calling our customer centre on 01904 551550. Spaces are limited though and the initial booking slots will be for the next two weeks, with slots for later dates becoming available soon.

Entry to the Household Waste and Recycling Centres will be granted based on registration numbers given when booking a slot but residents are asked to bring their booking reference with them.

If the registration of the vehicle does not match the booking then the vehicle will be turned away from the site.

What waste will be accepted

Rules around commercial waste use still apply and no trade waste will be accepted at weekends.

Sites will only be accepting bagged domestic waste and garden waste from residents.

Chargeable waste (such as brick rubble) can normally be brought to Hazel Court only. But they will not be accepting chargeable waste at Hazel Court from residents at this time (to reduce contact between site staff and members of the public that a transaction of this nature would require).

Social distancing rules

Strict social distancing will be in place, including:

• There will be no help to unload waste and place it in the skip. Please ensure you can empty your vehicle yourself – only one person will be permitted outside of the vehicle.
• The booking system will manage the queues
• Trailers, vans and pickups will require a permit to visit site as is usual and will be treated as commercial waste and invoiced at the normal rates
• Staff will be on site to ensure social distancing guidelines are maintained.
• Commercial users will need to stop at the weighbridge as per normal site procedure. Invoicing for disposal of this waste will be in place.

Bulky waste

The service will start again on Monday (11 May) and include items collected at the kerbside of properties such as furniture, bed bases, mattresses, garden chairs, and other larger household items.  

Those who had bookings cancelled due to the changes will be called by the council to arrange a collection, should they still want one.

The council will continue charging £22 to collect up to 10 bulky items.

If communities are working together to arrange a joint bulky waste collection then we ask that they maintain social distancing with their neighbours whilst doing so.

To arrange a collection call 01904 551550.

Green bins

Green bin collections will restart from Monday 18 May. Collections will be as per the previously circulated calendar, and the council will be updating www.york.gov.uk/RefuseLookUp by 16 May for people who want to check.

For the first collection please present full green bins only, additional garden waste will not be collected on this first collection.  

There will be a backlog “so if we do not get to your green bin on the day advertised please leave the green bin out and we will get to you as soon as we can,” the council says.

Do not place bags in the green bin for the next collection. The council says it will take three or four collections before we have cleared all of the green waste, adding: “Please store or compost any additional waste which cannot fit in the bin and put it in the green bin for the next collection.”