'Pointless and stupid': Residents hit out at West Sussex rubbish tip changes

The booking scheme is already in place at Bognor Regis, Crawley, Horsham, Littlehampton, Shoreham and Worthing but is being extended to Billingshurst, Burgess Hill, East Grinstead, Midhurst, and Chichester Recycling Centres from February 12.

But the decision – by West Sussex County Council – has angered many local residents who fear it will lead to more fly-tipping. There are also concerns that people will be limited to making five visits a month and concerns over how some elderly people will struggle to make the actual bookings.

One Chichester resident said: “It makes sense to have an appointment system at small sites where traffic can back on to roads at busy times. But sites like Westhampnett have generous drives and do not fall into this category. Limiting visits to five a month and adding the bureaucracy of booking will simply dissuade people from recycling and lead to more fly tipping. The county council needs to think again about the details."

Others have taken to social media to express their anger. A West Chiltington woman said: “It’s totally unnecessary and presumably if you turn up without having booked a slot, you don't get in! Another waste of time, money and the council passing the buck on a public service.”

A Billingshurst resident said: “In a time when as much recycling as possible should be encouraged and made as easy as possible AND fly-tipping should be discouraged ... WHY has the county council decided to implement a scheme to fix a problem that doesn't exist locally?”

Another added: “We were already providing proof of being a West Sussex resident so the booking system really is a pointless add-on and inconvenience.”

Another demanded of the system: “Leave it as it is, as it works perfectly well. Why on earth change it?” And another simply described the change as “a xxxxxx stupid idea.”

And yet another urged: “We all need to be writing to our county councillors to try and get this stupid change knocked on the head!”

Vanessa Jones, from Billingshurst, in a letter to West Sussex County Council cabinet member for the environment Deborah Urquhart queried why the council maintained that it had seen a reduced amount of waste at sites that already operate a booking system.

“This tells you that people do not like the booking system and are doing something else with their rubbish. It has to go somewhere!”

She added: “How bizarre when we should all be recycling everything we can, not having bonfires and not putting recyclable waste in our household bins. There will also be more fires from batteries being disposed of in bins.”

She said people wanted to get rid of their waste straight away and often didn’t have room to store it. “There will certainly be more bonfires,” she said.

Deborah Urquhart, announcing the scheme’s extension, said: “There are a number of advantages to the Book to Recycle scheme. Ensuring a steady flow of customers at our centres means residents have more time to select the correct recycling container and staff have more time to offer recycling advice and assistance. This means materials can often be diverted from residual waste to more efficient recycling routes.

“This not only helps us to increase recycling – one of our key targets in Our Council Plan – but will also save money by reducing disposal costs.”