IT WILL soon not be necessary to book a slot at the recycling centre in Millbrook.

The booking system will be removed for a trial period from Monday December 27, Southampton City Council has announced.

Time slots were introduced in July 2020 during the height of the pandemic to manage traffic levels and to help control visitor numbers.

While the system has worked well across Hampshire, fly tipping in Southampton has increased in recent years and it is hoped that the trial removal of the booking system will help reduce the number of incidents by allowing instant access.

Councillor Rob Harwood said: "We need to ensure there are no possible barriers preventing people from recycling as much as they can, removing the need for a time slot at the Southampton Millbrook Household Waste & Recycling Centre reinforces this.

"We also need to empower residents to dispose of rubbish and unwanted items as easily as possible, and although we can't make a direct link between fly tipping rates and the booking system that's in place at the HWRC, we hope that the three month pilot scheme will have an impact on this problem.

"The Millbrook site has a glass recycling bank and given the impact that the national driver shortage has had on glass collections we're urging residents to visit the site with their glass and make full use of the facility.

"The need for time slots was introduced to help with COVID measures, I'd like to take this opportunity to remind users of the HWRC that COVID remains a risk and we all still need to do all we can to stay safe and help stop the spread of it."

All other HWRCs in Hampshire, including Netley, will continue to operate the booking system.

During the last three months, one third of the available slots at the Millbrook HWRC were not taken up, and each month a number of people either fail to turn up at their pre-booked time, or are turned away because they have not booked.

This has caused frustration for residents who want to dispose of household waste responsibly.

Vehicle height restrictions apply – 1.75m – between Monday and Friday, but not at weekends. Visitors are asked to respect staff and to please wear a face covering as a courtesy to them and other customers, as well as observing any COVID guidelines that are in place at the time.