Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Queuing to use the tip....

59 replies

Orangeanddemons · 29/06/2015 14:54

Whenever and wherever I go to the tip, there is ALWaYS a massive queue. Got there today, and there were 10 cars ahead of me, and 9behind(causing hold ups on the road as they were queuing on the road).

When I left there were 18 people queuing. I have had to queue everywhere I've lived. Why are they so rammed? It's not exactly a tourist destination, but they seem as popular ad one.

OP posts:
ineedabodytransplant · 29/06/2015 16:22

There are two near me. One is always busy. The other, which has just had a revamp, is very well organised and I tend to go there early morning (between 8-9) and I'm generally in and out in five minutes.

muminhants1 · 29/06/2015 16:22

Hampshire County Council recently carried out a survey about reducing hours of opening of its tips (because of all the government cuts even though they have an enormous warchest). Despite the fact that I doubt ANYONE said "oh go on, queuing is great, cut the opening hours" of course they went ahead and cut the hours (remind me why they bother to consult again). So you do get really bad queues. But I don't think they're really fussy about what they accept unlike where my mum is in Devon, which sounds like ticklewinkle's local tip. However, they are really fussy about business use. I don't know where you're actually supposed to get rid of some stuff - can't put it in a bin, can't get it collected, can't use the tip...

I didn't know Mondays were busy, I thought people went to work on Mondays! So maybe Tuesday to Thursday are the days when you might be able to get in without a queue (people don't work Fridays or at least work at home), but then they'll have a big lorry in there and you'll still have to wait. And they wonder why people flytip. I'd hate to work in a charity shop as well -they get so much rubbish tipped outside their door.

And the idea that you have to live in a particular borough to use their tip is ridiculous. Despite government cuts, councils receive a central grant, and therefore facilities should be open to all. If you live in a border, it's very silly to make someone drive 10 miles in the other direction with their rubbish (happens a lot in London).

Doyouthinktheysaurus · 29/06/2015 16:24

Ours is always heaving, there is no such thing as a quiet time to go!

They did close our most local one a few years back which obviously couldn't have helped.

I hate the tip Household Recycling Centre, it stinks and I always feel dirty when I leave.

gobbin · 29/06/2015 16:28

My mum's local tip (which has since moved) used to have a 'Tip Cam' so you could have a look at home to see if it was busy first - brilliant!

On one occasion our lives are so exciting! she rang me from the queue and said "Google the Tip Cam, you'll see my car queuing!"...and I did, from 200 miles away ha!

InexperiencedDisneyMum · 29/06/2015 16:34

Always queues at ours whatever day of the week. The bays are laid out like this / / / / / / / so you have to drive past your bay and back in. Which is fine until you get a numpty who can't reverse and takes up half of 2 bays. I waited over an hour a few weeks ago.

Original poster
Orangeanddemons · 29/06/2015 16:37

They got a result by preventing ordinary households from taking a van, thus reducing the amount you could actually take. It takes 4 weeks for a permit for us. How can I possibly predict that far in advance whether I will need to hire a van or not?.

If I am going to produce that amount of stuff, I would hire a skip. The point about stopping vans, is dh can no longer borrow the van from work to take a bit more than a carload to the skip

OP posts:
Clutterbugsmum · 29/06/2015 16:48

You get the odd queue at our tip, but that is manly because you have to go to the right 'bin' to put your rubbish.

Nettletheelf · 29/06/2015 16:49

I'd love to pop over to tropical Oldham to enjoy its tranquil tips, sorry household waste recycling centres, Exitpursuedbyabear, but I strongly suspect that Oldham council are similarly paranoid about interlopers and tip tourists from Rochdale, Bolton etc. and insist upon the famed paper 'tip pass' to establish Oldham residence credentials!

Round here, you can only apply for the tip pass in person, at the council's offices, two working days (I.e. necessitating time off from your own job) per month. It reminds me of that bit in The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy, where Arthur Dent is told that he can't object to the demolition of his house by the council because the plans were available for inspection in the U bend of a blocked lavatory in a locked room in a derelict building.

I am 100% in agreement with everybody who links this type of council twattishness with increased fly tipping. So short sighted.

BTW, Lying witch, I'm guessing that you work for a council. Yes, I'm sure that van passes are available for the 'Household waste recycling centre' under certain circumstances, but if there's no warning (NONE: not on the council website, not on the paper tip pass) that vans will be turned away even if they are driven by people who have gone to all the hassle of acquiring a residents' tip pass, you can't blame people for being a bit annoyed.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 29/06/2015 17:09

gobbin, that's funny! Grin

Nettletheelf... No, I don't. I understand the implications of the Landfill Directive though because I used to. If you think the instructions/information is inadequate then get on to your council about it because the rules should be crystal clear and if they're not, then I understand your annoyance.

ghostyslovesheep · 29/06/2015 17:12

we have the most amazing tip - I love it

No queuing - help full staff and a brilliant huge charity shop (got some lovely stuff there)

Move here Grin

Dunkling · 29/06/2015 17:16

Where I live someone with brains at the council has installed a webcam at the tip, so you can take a peak at how busy it is before taking your chances.

specialsubject · 29/06/2015 17:20

learnt the day I stopped full-time work that monday is actually worse than weekends. Go early Saturday morning if you aren't free in the week.

try very hard not to generate tippable rubbish though; use Freecycle and buy less.

Original poster
Orangeanddemons · 29/06/2015 17:49

We'll it was mostly paint cans, the ridiculously large boxes that Amazon insist on sending for a very small item, and a lots of ds's old bedding.(no one would want that on Freecycle, it's had 3 years of student living and was beyond the pale)

OP posts:
lljkk · 29/06/2015 18:06

I cycle to the tip & sail past all the motorists. Can get a lot into a decent size trailer & panniers.

Lucyccfc · 29/06/2015 18:17

Ours in not too bad in the week, but very busy on a weekend.

I don't mind it being busy, as it means people are doing less tipping where they shouldn't.

We don't need any passes or anything - just turn up and tip into the correct place (depending on what you are getting rid of). They also have signs up to say how much stuff they managed to recycle the previous week.

The staff are not allowed to help you carry stuff, but they will direct you to park, help you work out where you stuff goes and they are always sweeping up and keeping the place tidy.

My tip runs are normally quite quick anyway, as I only have a 2 seater car and a tiny boot lol.

Fourarmsv2 · 29/06/2015 18:18

Ours won't allow trailers above a certain size. Our fairly normal camping trailer is too big.

We can apply for a permit to take it but when we tried on a Mon they were 'sold out' for the Sat. So we had to go twice in the car.

8.55am Sat - on our way out to breakfast - still 15 cars ahead of us for a 9 am opening. :(

kungfupannda · 29/06/2015 18:54

I once queued for nearly half an hour for the tip. Once you're in the queue, you can't get out again without going all the way in and turning around.

When I finally got in, there were two men chatting away while everything waited for their spaces, and a woman trying to extract lengthy advice about household plants from a bemused-looking staff member who kept saying 'I really don't know, honestly I don't know.'

If people didn't treat it like a nice trip out, maybe the queue would be shorter!

GERTI · 29/06/2015 19:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MyCarHasBrokenDownAgain · 29/06/2015 20:52

Ours make you reverse into the spaces. There's usually a small queue, but the blokes will help you to move stuff. It's a fairly new tip, so nice and clean. They also sell stuff for peanuts too :)

specialsubject · 29/06/2015 21:17

large boxes are popular with house movers.
grotty student bedding can have a final lease of life with old dogs.

paint cans -ok, need to be in metal recycling. Smile

chickenfuckingpox · 29/06/2015 21:24

ours is jammed for two reasons one they used to be two tips and they closed one two they decided to employ people to go through your stuff you try to take a bag of green waste to the green waste bin they shout at you because plastic isn't allowed you point out you are emptying the bag and you get 20 questions what is in there is there too much dirt are the tree branches a certain width etc

fly tipping has massively increased in this area

listsandbudgets · 29/06/2015 21:43

If any of you have scrap metal people about then just leave the metal out the front. Its sure to go. The radiators tinklewinkle had would be gone within the hour round here. I put out an old washing machine once, then went strait to the local shop for bread and milk and by the time I came back 15 minutes later it was gone

listsandbudgets · 29/06/2015 21:44

The scrap peoplee would probably take metal paint cans too.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 29/06/2015 22:21

No Lists, they wouldn't, because they're a hazardous waste and there's no scrap yard that would take them.

Washing machines, tumble driers, cookers are treated as scrap metal though even though they're electrical.

Some members of the public DO seem to take ages to dispose of their stuff on site, they like the companionship perhaps, wanting a chat. It's not ideal, even on the bigger sites, vehicle-suitable access to skips is at a premium and sites are busy and dangerous places.

Some of the sites are now split level and purpose built but the older ones were only suitable for a time when there was just recycling of glass, paper and metal. Now it's as many as 30 different streams that need to be separated and those sites just can't cope.

DisgraceToTheYChromosome · 29/06/2015 22:36

Ours is pretty good: takes everything bar radioactives, helpful guys to carry, clearly marked skips. However, there's a private recycling firm next door which buys a lot of it.