I live 30 seconds from a recycling centre but it happens to be across county borders. I showed up the other day with a broken TV to get rid off, only to be fobbed off by a (pretty rude!) security guard asking for proof of address.
So I’ll now have to drive 20 miles to the nearest (within my county) recycling centre. That doesn’t seem very environmentally friendly!
Is it normal for recycling centres to ask for proof of address nowadays?
28 comments
I’ve never come across it but it must be one way of ensuring ‘local recycling centres for local people’
Ours has ANPR and you register your car with the council who can then see your address.
I think they’re struggling with capacity, we are being told to recycle more but the infrastructure hasn’t changed in 20 years so they’re having to place limits on it to ensure they can cope.
1) Yes, it has become more and more normal and it is an effect of what happened during Covid.
2) every council has its own rules.
3) Before Covid, our council had a permit system (free to every householder, they sent it in the post and it was permanently valid), but it was not often enforced.
4) when Covid happened and slots at the dump were rationed for everybody, you had stuff like pre-booking and checking the permits/ proofs of address.
5) Those regularions have by and large stayed, even though they are obviously not as strict e.g. usually you do not have to pre-book.
6) Any place displaying the WEEE symbol should take any electircal recycling for you- does not have to be a council dump.
Its because you don’t pay tax to that council
Our one does. It’s partly to stop the “one man and a van” collection guys from travelling round to different tips to avoid paying business fees.
Ours only requires pre registering if you’re bringing a van or trailer. Then you’re limited to once per week.
It’s to stop trade waste, and people coming from outside the council area (though that’s a bit daft imo).
Ours does it and an online booking system to stop guys in vans avoiding business fees.
Ours takes any old shit. No appointment or ID, just ‘park over there and put it in that skip, the metal goes there’. I think the only thing they care about is fishing out the good stuff. Just need to beware of the massive ginger cat that seems to own the place. This is West Wales mind you, so anyone thinking of going there across county lines has got a long journey.
Local ones here do, and it’s a pain like yours.
The tip 5 minutes down the road is in a different postcode so I’m not allowed to use it, my ‘local’ is about 50 minutes away.
They also take the piss with the van/trailer rules, every time I go there I have to argue as they claim that my Zafira VXR (7 seater car) is a van, and try to charge me for it.
Piss takers.
I’ll say that this isn’t the case in north London.
Theoretically if you know someone who lives in that county then you could just say that you are doing someone a favour? Like “l’m just dropping this off for a friend who doesn’t drive.” Don’t see how they could refuse you then . Maybe that is a possible work around.
Never had to give my address when going to the tip, and that’s after living in two neighbouring counties. They might be more strict with asking for an address because of where its located. However, several villages in the county I used to live in have postal addresses for the county I currently live in, so asking for their address wouldn’t work.
For ours you need an appointment and proof of id.
Yep. The council pay money for them so they want to ensure that only the people paying into the coffers through their Council Tax get to use them
The ones near me in Edinburgh all require you to book a slot before you go (even before Covid). It makes sense really
Happened when I lived in Reading, Newbury tip started charging for certain things, so everyone started driving to Reading, so they had to start requiring proof of address
Ours doesn’t care. I usually go in my van and they never ask to see the pass I have
In Swansea you have to book appointments at some, never proof of address though. My hometown of Kings Lynn was just turn up whenever though. Always put that down to city vs town though more than anything.
I’ve got to book into mine in advanced
My local one and neighbouring one under another council never ask for ID and I use both all the time. I was only ever asked for a postcode once when I was getting rid of a fridge then just gave my old address which was under that council. My local tip didn’t even ask when I dumped a fridge there. They just grunted and pointed.
Yeet it over the fence later on tonight
My local requires you to book online and I’ve never been asked for my address at the site. So I imagine you can cheat the system this way
My local centers (north somerset) had a big problem from people coming in from out of area so do check.
We’ve got a really well run recycling service, but somerset and Bristol City Council are fucking dreadful, so people kept coming to the North somerset centers. I think banes aren’t great either.
My mother in law is in somerset and can’t even recycle certain plastics and they won’t take bins that are open etc, same with my mates in bristol. They apparantly can only go to a skip so many times a month and have to pay.
Our service take damn near everything including small electrical items and clothes, and our skip visits are unlimited and free.
Ours doesn’t for cars as it’s done by number plate recognition.
ETA there is a bit of a limit on number of visits, but it’s not crazy, I have a people carrier, so family preference is to use my car, we do save up things to take to the tip, but not because of their rules, simply because who wants to go to the tip weekly. Even with big clear outs, deconstruction of large pieces of furniture, we’ve never had to resort to taking trips in different cars.
Mine doesn’t. I live on the border too (our estate is half Malvern CC, half Worcester CC) but the Malvern recycling centre is much more convenient for us than Worcester, so we go there.
If you live 30 seconds away, why not go get your driving license instead of driving 20miles?
Ours don’t do that to my knowledge, but I’d be similarly screwed as the one 10 minutes away is in a different council area, whilst it’s about 40 minutes to reach the “local” one.
It’s to encourage fly tipping.
Try smashing it up and put it in your wheelie bin.
A sofa would take a while longer.
I would photoshop a gas bill or suchlike.