New permits are now needed at county tips

People using vans and trailers to dispose of household waste at Staffordshire’s Household Waste Recycling Centres will now have to get a permit.

The changes, which came into effect on Monday, aim to “improve services and reduce queues” for residents while promoting sustainable waste disposal within the county, the county council said.

The e-permits are free of charge for Staffordshire residents, valid for 12 months and allow up to 12 visits each year.

Under the scheme, vehicles such as vans, pick-up trucks, tipper trucks, minibuses with seats removed and campervans with fixtures and fittings removed will require a permit.

Those with trailers between 1.5m and 2.5m lon or over 570 litres in capacity will also require a permit.

Trade waste is not accepted at Biddulph Recycling Centre.

During visits, permit holders are required to inform site staff of their permit number or vehicle registration. People without a correct permit, mismatched registration details or who have already used up all 12 allowable visits will not be allowed to dispose of waste.

The permits do not cover waste generated through commercial or business activities. A separate, chargeable service is available for trade waste disposal, which is not accepted at Bemersley Road anyway.

County Coun Simon Tagg, Cabinet member for environment, infrastructure, and climate change at the county council, said: “It’s really important that we provide high quality waste disposal services for people and these changes will help us do that.

“The new permit scheme will help to streamline the process, reduce queuing times for customers and help deliver more efficient recycling facilities across our 14 sites. At the same time, it will help us promote and encourage more sustainable and cleaner waste disposal practices which benefits everyone.”

The county council, which has 14 sites across the county, said it remained committed to investing in and improving the service while “aligning its policies with those of surrounding local authorities”.

Currently accepting around 85,000 tonnes of waste a year across 42 types of material, the recycling centres are visited approximately 1.6 million times a year by residents and 20,000 times by traders.

More than 47,000 tonnes of waste is recycled each year and just 1% of waste is sent to landfill.

Waste that cannot be recycled is taken to the facility at Four Ashes, operated by Veolia. There it is processed, turned into electricity and used to power 66,000 homes.

People can find out more about the van and trailer permit scheme on the county council website.