First look inside Peterborough’s new ‘amazing’ recycling centre as Dogsthorpe site prepares to close

The uncomfortable experience of recycling waste and bulky items in Peterborough will be a thing of the past from Monday.
A first look inside the new Household Recycling CentreA first look inside the new Household Recycling Centre
A first look inside the new Household Recycling Centre

That is the verdict of city leaders as they showed off the brand new Household Recycling Centre in Fengate which is more than double the size of the existing site in Dogsthorpe, which closes on Sunday at 4pm. The new recycling centre is mostly undercover with extra parking spaces and no steps to navigate, providing a modern facility which it is hoped will encourage a boost in recycling rates and a drop in the huge levels of fly-tipping. And work is already underway to find a location in the north of the city for a second recycling centre. Peterborough City Council cabinet member for waste and street scene Cllr Marco Cereste said: “It’s an amazing facility. It’s much bigger, it’s laid out differently, it’s very customer friendly, and as you can see there are no steps. I think it’s a tremendous facility - a real boon for our city. “It’s all marked out, there is plenty of space, there shouldn’t be any issues with parking or traffic, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how it works. “There’s no doubt in my mind it will improve the recycling rates, and I suspect it may affect the amount of stuff that’s fly-tipped, but I don’t think it is the solution to the fly-tipping issue in the city.” The new facility in Fengate, next to the energy recovery facility, opens at 10am on Monday. It will then be open every day of the year from 8am apart from Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s day. Resource and waste management company FCC Environment Limited has designed and built the facility and will manage it for the next 10 years, all at a cost of nearly £6.2 million. There will typically be six members of staff operating it on a day-to-day basis. Drivers entering the facility will be able to access outdoor bays where they can park and dispose of items including: glass bottles, household chemicals, large domestic appliances, excess household recycling and DIY waste. Anyone who stops off will then have to rejoin the queue to head up a ramp and go into the large undercover section where there are 19 bays, with much more space for disposing of items then residents are accustomed to at the moment. People who need a permit to dispose of waste in a van or trailer should also see a further improvement in the near future. Cllr Cereste added: “Very shortly we will have number plate recognition - that’s going to make it a lot easier for some people.” FCC owns the site where the Dogsthorpe recycling centre is based. The firm said it has not decided what to do next with the land. Steve Longdon, regional director for FCC Environment, said: “We manage 100 household recycling centres across the country and have drawn upon this extensive experience when designing, building and operating this new facility to ensure that visitors to the site have a good experience. “We are looking forward to opening the doors to the site, welcoming residents and helping them to recycle even more.” For more information about the Household Recycling Centre, including what can be recycled, vehicle size restrictions and permits, visit www.peterborough.gov.uk/hrc.