Essential tip trips only

Devon recycling Centre's remain open

Devon County Council has confirmed that its recycling centres will remain open during the third national Lockdown.

While they initially had to close during the first lockdown, they were allowed to stay open during the second lockdown and will be able to during the third national lockdown that has begun – although the resale areas within them are closed.

But a council spokesman asked residents to think about how they can reduce the amount of waste they create as people should be staying at home as much as possible and only to make journeys out of the house for essential reasons only.

They said: “If you must make a visit to your nearest recycling centre, please expect them to be operating differently during this lockdown period.

“Restrictions are in place, including social distancing, which may lead to queues. If queues do start forming, we may need to restrict vehicles from joining the queues towards the end of the day and if queues become a safety hazard on the public highway, we may need to temporarily close the site.”

Advice given to residents is to try to postpone projects at home that produce waste that would normally require you to make journeys to recycling centres and that garden waste and other recyclable material can be removed as part of your usual curb side collections.

They added that if you do produce waste that you would normally dispose of at a recycling centre, can you temporarily store it at home safely instead until we’re out of the current lockdown restrictions.

The spokesman added: “If you are displaying any of the Covid-19 symptoms – the high temperature, new and continuous cough, or a change in your usual sense of smell or taste – please do not leave your house. You should self-isolate and arrange for a coronavirus test as quickly as possible.”