Sheringham recycling centre will become the ninth to reopen in Norfolk on Friday, May 22, after eight centres reopened last week.

The county’s 20 recycling centres closed in March when the government restricted travel outside the home to limited essential purposes due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The eight reopened sites have received up to around 2,400 visitors a day, which is capped by how many vehicles can be on site at any one time under the new site layouts to allow physical distancing.

Mile Cross, Dereham and Caister have been the busiest sites, and while there have been some delays and queues at peak times, up to around 40 vehicles an hour have been passing through sites, meaning up to around 300 customers a day can use each site.

Restrictions were removed to enable vans and vehicles with trailers to make use of recycling centres, from Tuesday, May 19 at 9am. Larger vehicles are now allowed to visit all reopened sites, but traffic will still be closely managed to avoid queues and reduce waiting times.

Andy Grant, Norfolk County Council cabinet member for environment and waste, said: “We’re so grateful for how sensibly and safely the people of Norfolk are treating the reopening of the recycling centres across the county.

“We’re thankful too to all our staff on the frontline and behind the scenes for working so hard to reopen the centres and serve the people of Norfolk so well during this difficult time.”

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A council spokesman said that, while the aim was to get back to the normal services offered as quickly as possible, there were some changes that customers should be aware of.

The centres require physical distancing of two metres by all customers and operate on a managed one in, one out basis for vehicles.

Only two adults are allowed out of a vehicle to unload their waste and assistance won’t be offered to help empty vehicles. The reuse shops remain closed.

The nine reopened sites are Caister, Dereham, Hempton, Ketteringham, King’s Lynn, Mayton Wood, Mile Cross, Sheringham and Thetford. They are open from 9am to 5pm.