Queues as waste centre is opened
CARMARTHEN’S Nantycaws recycling centre saw vehicles queuing back towards the dual carriageway yesterday morning.
Tuesday was the first day the centre had opened since Carmathenshire Council announced the reopening of its four recycling centres since lockdown started in March.
While the council has a strict appointments-only policy for people and social distancing rules in place, the scene by 9.30am at the Nantycaws site off the A48 didn’t look much different to any other day prior to lockdown – in fact it seemed busier due to the queues.
The issue has raised concerns of people possibly turning up without an appointment or arriving way in advance of their alloted time slot.
However, Carmarthenshire Council is adamant the appointment-only system is “working well” and “an element of queuing is to be expected as we are adhering to strict social distancing measures.”
One Carmarthen resident who had an appointment but who did not wish to be named said:
“People were being checked at the entrance to see if they had an appointment and then having to queue in their cars to reach the recycling centre itself. The queue went back quite far but not to the dual carriageway.
“By 11.30am there were still queues and even two cars parked in the layby too. Once inside the recycling centre there wasn’t much social distancing with people going this way and that way passing each other.
“People were trying their best but it wasn’t easy with everyone trying to dump things at different points in there. Being that there are appointments surely people shouldn’t then be queuing to get in and then darting about around each other and the staff on site.
“I think maybe it needs to be looked at because on paper appointments make sense and the council is being responsible but surely it can’t be like that every day there from now on?”
Some people reacting to photos of the queues on social media were surprised and concerned.
Jody Thomas said: “They (the council) ask you not to turn up no more than five minutes before your allocated time but my husband got there at 8.57am for a 9am slot and he was the last in the queue for that time.
“I think they’ve done their best by creating a lane for queuing.
“They’ll have to reduce the number per time allocation if it doesn’t work.
“The problem is people are probably taking longer than usual because they’ve been having a sort out and know they can’t return for another month.”
While Christine Lee said: “Need to space them (appointments) further apart then or tell people not to turn up early, that’s crazy.”
Carmarthenshire Council is reminding people they cannot arrive at any of its recycling centres without an appointment.
Just under 4,000 appointments are being made available across the four recycling centres each week.
This will be under constant review. To ensure it is fair to everyone, residents will initially be able to make one appointment per month.
Ainsley Williams, head of waste and environmental services at Carmarthenshire Council, said: “We have been closely monitoring the Nantycaws site since it reopened on Tuesday morning and the new system is working well.
“We’d like to thank residents for their co-operation in the re-opening of our household waste and recycling centres and are grateful to all those for abiding by our new site rules and only attending if having pre-booked.”