Waterdale recycling centre to be open seven days a week

Hertfordshire County Council has announced three of its recycling centres will be open every day from mid-May, including Waterdale, which is on the A405 between Bricket Wood and Garston.

It will switch from five days of opening, which the council hopes will reduce waiting times and reduce pressure on the other sites in the county.

Terry Hone, Conservative cabinet member for waste management, said: "We’re making this permanent change as we’ve been seeing long queues at many of our sites. While people have used lockdown as an opportunity for clear-outs and gardening, we believe demand will remain high and we want to try and ease pressure at other smaller sites around the county.

"In many ways it’s great news that people in Hertfordshire are so keen to recycle their waste, but with the social distancing measures in place at the moment to keep the sites safe and this increased number of visits, it’s putting real pressure on our centres."

Waterdale recycling depot

Liberal Democrat councillor Tim Williams, who is based in Watford and sits on the waste cabinet panel, has welcomed the news Waterdale will revert back to seven days.

He said: "I very much remember campaigning against the reductions in 2014 when the county council reduced opening times. Whilst we maintain that there was no need for reducing the hours for the past six years, and that this has caused flytipping issues, the fact that they’ve relented is to be welcomed and we look forward to mid-May when the centre will be opened seven days a week."

Liberal Democrat councillors campaigning in 2014

Watford Labour county councillor Nigel Bell said: "We welcome as a Labour county group the seven day opening for Waterdale recycling centre, along with Ware and Stevenage.

"We had called in our budget proposals in February for a seven day opening of the county’s recycling centres to encourage more recycling for our county, and Conservative council are at last seeing they need to accept the reality that so many of our residents already see for themselves and want to be able to properly and legally recycle."