Mayor reveals tips will reopen soon
SOME tips are set to reopen over the next two weeks, Greater Manchester’s Mayor has announced.
Local authorities have agreed to reopen some of the 20 household waste recycling centres across Greater Manchester.
Different recycling centres may open on weekdays and weekends and it is not yet known if Rochdale’s centre will be involved.
A number of councils, including Rochdale, Tameside, Wigan and Salford, reported a spike in the amount of flytipping their staff were having to deal with since lockdown began.
The announcement comes after Andy Burnham came under pressure from councillors across the region calling on him to reverse a decision to close all tips to protect people during the coronavirus outbreak.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Mr Burnham said: “An agreement was reached in principle to reopen some of our 20 household waste recycling centres. It’s likely that that partial reopening will happen within the next fortnight.
“That’s good news for those wanting to take waste away from their home and for those who have concerns about flytipping which we recognise. That’s a decision taken today and it will be carefully monitored and introduced.”
Localised information on which recycling centres will be open and when will be available on the Recycling for GM website.
Mr Burnham added: “Full details will be published shortly. It’s not a full reopening, it’s partial reopening. Part of the reason for that is that it’s difficult to staff all recycling centres. But also, there are different arrangements in place in different boroughs.
“What we are going to do is bring forward proposals, which people will be able to see soon. It will be a localised announcement. There’ll be different arrangements over weekdays and weekends.
“All of this is being done with an eye to maintaining the safe operation of those centres.”
Wigan Council, which manages its own waste disposal arrangements, reopened its recycling centres over the last few days.
The leader and chief executive of Wigan Council told other council leaders that reopening tips has “worked as well as they could have hoped” and that the sites have been effectively managed.
Mr Burnham also hit back at suggestions that he made a unilateral decision to close household waste recycling centres without consulting council leaders.
He said: “I can assure you that wasn’t the case. In fact, it was a government decision to close them because people were not permitted to deviate from the stay at home message for that purpose.
“Greater Manchester Police wanted to reinforce that message and indeed across the country household waste recycling centres have been closed for some time.
“In more recent days there has been a loosening of the guidance, particularly from the ministry of housing community and local government and also the environment department.
“What we’re seeing now is the ability for a decision to be taken locally towards partial reopening.”