Cardiff's rubbish tips will open next week but you have to book online first

Rubbish tips in Cardiff will reopen next week but you have to book online first, the council has announced.

Recycling centres across the city will reopen for the disposal of limited items from May 26.

Strict rules will be in place and residents are asked to wash their hands before dropping off any items.

An online booking system has been set up and will be available to the public from 12.30pm on May 22.

The only items that can be brought to the recycling centres for now are cardboard, wood, garden waste, scrap metal, small electrical items and hard plastic.

Bessemer Close Recycling Centre will re-open on Tuesday May 26 followed by Lamby Way Recycling Centre on Sunday, May 31.

The bulky waste collection service will also resume from Monday June 1.

The recycling centres will open from 8.30am until 4.30pm seven days a week. Anyone who turns up without an appointment will be refused access.

Appointment can be made online here.

A number of rules designed to keep residents and staff safe are also in place, including:

• Booking must be made online at least 24 hours in advance and residents should not arrive on site until five minutes before their time slot. Residents will need to set up an account and provide their home address and vehicle registration number

• Both the confirmation email from your booking, and ID showing you are a Cardiff resident, must be provided to the member of staff on site. Residents will be allocated a parking bay on arrival. If a member of staff isn’t available, residents are asked to follow the traffic management signs to park

• Residents are advised to bring their own gloves or hand sanitiser, though hand sanitiser will be available on site. Only one person will be able to leave the vehicle to drop off waste and the council ask residents to use hand sanitiser before and after they drop off their items. Each vehicle will be given a maximum of 10 minutes to offload on site

• Only cars will be accepted on site, no high-sided vehicles, vans or trailers will be allowed

• Only one person will be able to approach a skip at a time and all residents must keep a two metre distance from staff and other residents

• The only items that can be brought to the recycling centres are cardboard, wood, garden waste, scrap metal, small electrical items and hard plastic

• The council said the booking system will ensure that each household will only be able to visit a centre twelve times a year

The council said the rules will be in place for the "foreseeable future".

People in Wales are currently only allowed to make "essential" journeys during lockdown.

The council said: "It is a term which is used by the Government and in this context it means that you should only make an appointment to visit a recycling centre if you are unable to store the items safely in your house or garden or if the waste presents an environmental hazard."

Residents are asked not to bring an item they can't carry themselves. But the council will allow two people to leave a vehicle to drop off an item, if social distancing can be maintained for others on the site.

On Monday, May 18, the council announced that weekly kerbside collections for recyclables and food waste will return to normal service from June 1.

Cabinet member for clean streets, recycling and the environment, councillor Michael Michael, said: “I’m delighted to say we are now able to reopen the recycling centres and I want to thank residents for their patience. However, the new rules on social distancing means the service can’t run as it did before the Covid-19 outbreak.

“We have to ensure that our residents and staff are safe at these facilities.

"The sites have had to be re-designed so social distancing rules can be followed and we have had to introduce a booking system so we can manage people through the process while keeping everyone safe.”