Recycling centre trial on Anglesey could drop need to book in advance

Council bosses could drop the need to book in advance when visiting one of Anglesey’s recycling centres.

Councillors heard on Wednesday that refuse chiefs are considering dropping the need for advance bookings at the Penhesgyn centre as part of a new trial amid a substantial drop in the number of visits over the past 12 months.

It has not yet been confirmed when, or indeed if, such a trial would be introduced.

At present both the Gwalchmai and Penhesgyn centres are only accepting vehicles that have booked a timeslot in advance, which has been the case since their reopening last June.

It’s expected that the booking system would have to remain in place at the Gwalchmai facility, however, due to its proximity to the A5 and tendency for backed up cars to block the highway when busy.

The Corporate Scrutiny Committee meeting heard that while around 5,000 tonnes of waste was recycled after being dropped off at either household facility, the emergence of the Covid-19 lockdown and resulting booking system had seen that drop to just 2,000.

Huw Percy, the Head of Service for Highways, Waste and Property, said: “Such an arrangement at Penhesgyn would mean people not having to book in advance but to provide their track and trace details upon arrival at the gate.
“If such a trial was successful, without causing any problems, in the longer term it would also look at making the booking system more user friendly.”

Meanwhile, further assurances were sought amid ongoing complaints over the authority’s telephone systems.
It followed concerns raised during last month’s full council meeting as the majority of office staff continue to work from home.

As a result, over the counter services at Anglesey Council’s Llangefni headquarters have been closed since the start of the pandemic with the public reliant on phone and online contact to access officers and services.

Pressed by Cllr Aled Morris Jones on when the Cyswllt Môn service is likely to reopen, chief executive Annwen Morgan said, “We are hoping that it will open in some form very soon, the end of this month or the start of next month on a different basis and there’s background work ongoing at the moment.”

It was also pointed out that online and telephone services remain open in the meantime, with other authorities in the north not having yet opened their over the counter or customer facing services.

Following up, Cllr Jones said: “I believe that if Cyswllt Môn was open then some of the problems with securing green bin collections wouldn’t have happened.

“You must realise that other businesses that are customer facing have reopened so it is important that it opens safely and press with that so we can provide a service for the public.
“Our present phone system doesn’t seem able to cope with the volume of calls.”
Carys Edwards, the Head of Corporate Transformation and Human Resources, said that the volume of calls received had ‘shot up’ since March 2021, coping with 3,000 calls on some days which was three times the usual number.

By Gareth Williams – Local Democracy Reporter