Getting ready for the summer with your local waste and recycling services

Environment

As the days lengthen and the weather improves, thoughts turn to summer, and the Easter holiday is the ideal time to start getting your house and garden ready for the coming season.

For many households, the process of having a clear out and tidying the garden means at least one trip to the local household waste and recycling centre (HWRC), and Buckinghamshire County Council’s waste teams are on hand to help meet the seasonal demand at this time of the year, with centres open every day over Easter and the closing time also moving to 6pm summer hours (instead of 5pm winter hours) from April 1.

But the seasonal demand does mean that HWRCs can get very busy at certain times, especially over the Easter holiday period – so if you want to avoid a queue it can sometimes be worth selecting a different day or time where possible. You can see how busy your local site is before leaving home by checking our live webcams online www.buckscc.gov.uk/hwrc

If you’re clearing things out of your house, shed or garage, don’t forget that re-use is the most environmentally-friendly approach. If things are still in good condition or easy to put right then they may be useful to someone else – you might be able to sell them on e-bay or at a boot sale, or otherwise offer them for free on websites such as freecycle.org. Some items may be suitable for our re-use shops at High Heavens (Wycombe) and Aston Clinton HWRCs which also sell suitable items from the other waste sites. The shops are open to visit whenever the site is open, with all funds raised going to South Bucks Hospice.

If things can’t be re-used, then make sure that anything recyclable goes to the right place, whether that’s through your district council collection or at the HWRC. There are also facilities at the HWRC to dispose of specialist waste items you might clear out such as domestic batteries (AA, AAA, ‘button’ etc), cooking oil or engine oil. Used textiles and small electrical waste items such as kettles and toasters can also be taken to any of our sites.

And although your garden waste is welcome at the recycling centre, remember that a garden clear-up is a great opportunity to give your compost heap a boost, and create some great compost for use next year. Likewise, if you haven’t tried composting yet, it’s the ideal time to get started – it’s really easy and saves the expense of buying ready-made compost for your garden beds and planters.

Be aware that if you’re disposing of asbestos, or using a large trailer or commercial vehicle to carry your domestic waste to the HWRC, you will need a permit – details are on our website www.buckscc.gov.uk/wastepermit.

Buckinghamshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning & Environment Warren Whyte said: “At this time of year we’re all busy with spring cleaning and garden maintenance, and maybe some DIY, all activities that generate potential waste.

“It does mean, though, that it’s a busy time for our household waste and recycling centres, and I’d ask people to check our webcams before you visit to check how busy the centre is – and to find out on the website the correct way of disposing of different waste materials. This not only saves time, but makes sure that we recycle whenever possible to reduce our environmental footprint. And it’s even better if something can be re-used – it stays out of the waste system, and means that we’re consuming just a little less as a community in the first place.”