Wokingham

Wokingham Residents who use vans or large trailers to bring household waste to either Smallmead or Longshot Lane are being warned they must pre-book from December 1 onwards.

In common with other local recycling sites, Wokingham re3's new Household Waste Recycling Centres in Reading and Bracknell do not accept trade waste.

Wokingham Businesses that want to use the sites to dispose of waste can continue to do so via the existing trade facilities.

From December 1 this year, Wokingham height barriers will be installed at both Smallmead and Longshot Lane sites to prevent traders passing themselves off as residents and using the facilities to dump trade waste for free.

Very often, Wokingham traders keen to avoid paying - some of whom travel from outside the area - use the site to dump rubbish. Ultimately, it is the local council tax payer who foots the bill for the disposal of this waste.

In order to protect the sites for public use, the height barriers will come into operation in December - preventing vans from entering without phoning ahead.
Any resident who wants to use a van to dispose of waste at either Smallmead or Longshot Lane Household Waste Recycling Centres should call re3 for free on 0800 988 3023. The pre-booking system will also apply to residents using large trailers (over 6ft in length). Vans and large trailers that have not booked in will not be able to access the sites.

Businesses and traders who want to use the waste transfer station facilities at both Smallmead and Longshot Lane to dispose of trade waste can call 0845 0707079 to find out about prices.

re3 is also introducing a waste acceptance policy, which sets limits on the amount of certain types of waste that can be brought to both sites. These limits are set at levels which are consistent with the amount of waste that householders often deliver, again preventing businesses from being able to dispose of larger quantities of waste in the Household Waste Recycling Centres.

The policy doesn't cover all types of waste, but includes soil/rubble, asbestos, paint, household chemicals.

Oliver Burt, re3 Project Manager, said: "The re3 sites are the last in the local area to implement this type of policy and without such measures it's possible that businesses or traders would come from all over the local area to deposit waste at our sites. Obviously this wouldn't be acceptable, either to re3 or to our residents.

"The majority of residents use a car to visit the centres and are unlikely to be affected by these changes. We appreciate this change may inconvenience a small number of residents who routinely use vans or trailers, but we're asking them to be patient and ring ahead before making their journey."

re3 is the partnership between Bracknell Forest, Reading and Wokingham Borough Councils and Waste Recycling Group (WRG) set up to increase the amount of waste that is reused, recycled and composted across the three boroughs and minimise the amount of waste sent to landfill.

Wokingham Borough Council