Merton's Garth Road Tip Is Set To Re-Open
Opening times yet to be revealed and it is expected to be busy
Merton’s Garth Road recycling centre is set to open again on Wednesday (May 13) after household tips across the country closed for business more than a month ago.
All the facilities in Croydon, Sutton, Merton and Kingston – part of the South London Waste Partnership (SLWP) – are due to open that day.
Councillor for clean, green Croydon and SLWP committee member Stuart Collins, said that the aim is for all tips in the four boroughs to reopen.
But full details of their opening times will be decided by individual boroughs and announced in the coming days.
He said: “We’ve been discussing how we’re going to enforce social distancing and how we’re going to deal with the queues. After a couple of weeks I think it will be back to normal after an initial rush.”
When tips closed, some raised concerns that there would be an increase in fly- tipping as a result, but Councillor Collins says this has not been the case in Croydon.
“Veolia have really stepped up, I’ve thanked their staff,” he said. “We’ve had very few missed collections and I think it has helped a bit having less traffic on the roads.
“We managed to keep green waste collections going and fly tipping hasn’t been as bad as we were expecting.”
Councillor Collins added there will be more detailed plans about how the reopening will be managed. One idea is to publicise how long queues are to hopefully reduce wait times.
By Tara O’Connor, Local Democracy Reporter
May 7, 2020