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news
Recycling Centre (Love Essex)Council makes U-turn on “discriminatory” ban on cyclists at recycling centres
A council has made a U-turn on a ban on cyclists being allowed into its recycling centres after it was widely criticised on social media over the policy, which had been slammed as “discriminatory.”
The ban on cyclists using such facilities in the county had been highlighted on Twitter by disability campaigner 2_Wheeled_Wolf, who lives in Colchester and uses his bike as a disability aid to get around, including when visiting his local recycling centre.
As we reported on Wednesday’s road.cc live blog, Essex County Council had said that people using its recycling sites would, from Monday 13 March, have to book in advance – a common practice in many local authority areas.
The council said: “Pedestrians and cyclists carrying waste from their own home are also not required to book.”
But it went on to say that “Cyclists visiting recycling centres are asked to leave their push bikes at the pedestrian gate and should not bring them into the site.”
Justifying its policy, the council added: “There are no cycle paths for them to safely travel on the pedestrian walkways. Please note, any resident that parks outside and attempts to walk waste in will be refused entry.”
That ban has now been reversed, however, with a council spokesperson telling road.cc: “We welcome residents’ feedback, and we are committed to working with residents in order to get the booking process trial right.
“We have looked into this issue as a priority, and we are pleased to say this guidance has now been amended.
“Cyclists are welcome to use their bikes when visiting our recycling centres and do not need to book.
“As recycling centres are busy operational environments, we advise cyclists to either queue with other vehicles or to dismount and ‘walk’ with their bike on the pedestrian walkways.”
In his criticism of the former policy, 2_Wheeled_Wolf tweeted the council and said: “I suggest you remove this advice, we have every right to cycle into the site like every person driving. It is also discriminatory to those with disabilities or mobility issues as well as those with cargo bikes or trailers."
I suggest you remove this advice, we have every right to cycle into the site like every person driving! It is also discriminatory to those with disabilities or mobility issues as well as those with cargo bikes or trailers! I request you to show your Equality Impact Assessment. https://t.co/WzU4DH07hO pic.twitter.com/2yagCnCtVQ
— @2_Wheeled_Wolf @ mastodon.social 🇪🇺 (@2_Wheeled_Wolf) January 31, 2023
“I’ve taken refuse to the recycling centre for years without incident like I did last week,” he continued. “I suggest you change your car brain mindset on this as we have to cycle on the roads to get there and there’s no more risk cycling on your sites with drivers.
“Failing to change this and try stop me from accessing the recycling centre, I will seek legal advice on preventing access to a person with a disability using their cycle as a mobility aid.
“Honestly, policies like this shouldn't happen, shouldn't deter people taking refuse to recycling sites by cycles of any sort,” he added. “It should be welcomed and encouraged.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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16 comments
My LA has this they tried to ban bikes but allowed pedestrian access, I questioned the difference from a safety point of view and it changed (surprisingly easy).
They also have booking for any vehicle, but the problem is the site workers have a more pragmatic take on this, if the site is not at capacity they don't care, booked or not. They will even tell you the best time to turn up, not sure what the LA think of this logical method.
It'd be great if they gave some indication of peak times when people are booking. It benefits everyone if they don't all turn up at once.
My local refuse centre seems to manage without all this nonsense of pre-booking. Why is it necessary?
Though my local swimming pool cant cope without the pre-booking.
Pre-booking started during lockdown to keep numbers down to a managable level at small venues.
Funny how registration and pre-booking has persisted as a way to capture data and we all just go along with it like it is now normal..
The pre-booking is mainly to cope with the poor scaling of motor vehicles. Once a service gets over a certain level of popularity, the number of cars won't be able to be handled due to the space requirements they need for driving in, parking up and driving out. When the queues are blocking surrounding roads and businesses, it makes sense to restrict the number of motor vehicles arriving at any one time - hence booking.
The problem doesn't exist for pedestrians/cyclists until much higher numbers are reached as the amount of space needed is so much smaller - unlikely to ever be an issue with recycling centres.
Well yes ... But here you are in the internet (unless you're a tech-pirate, or a bot). Didn't that ship sail with the advent of smartphone + social media? Or (insert any bureaucratic increase since the invention of writing or maybe before)?
TBH ain't 90% of life just going along with it? (The other 10% is probably self- delusion).
I have no idea what point you are making.
You: apparently surprised that extra bureaucracy and data capture continued after it stopped being strictly necessary AND that people just accept this.
Reality: Pournelle's iron law of bureaucracy applies. Internet of Things increasing, mobiles ubiquitous and internet mostly set up for monetising stuff via capturing and selling data. People irritable as ever but then spend most of their mental energy on posting vacuous comments (!) and looking at cat videos.
Funny how recycling centres prioritise car users. Car users are the ones killing the planet and think they can atone by recycling their junk. They should have to pay to come in by car.
So when I want to recycle my old dining table and bookcase (which is what I'm doing at the moment) how do you think that I should take it to the recycling centre? On the back of my bike? No, that doesn't work. By car? That would be more sensible. Do you now want me to pay to recycle these items? Suddenly paying for fuel and getting in to the recycling centre makes recycling these items seems slightly less appealing. We need to make recycling as cheap and as easy for everyone regardless of their chosen form of transport. As part of my work I take fly tippers to court ( with a very good record of successful prosecutions) and whilst I never condone fly tipping I can understand why people do resort to fly tipping when we have restrictions on easy and free recycling options.
Hampshire now has a booking system, and vehicles have to be registered for site access. All monitored by CCTV so charges can be issued for unauthorised vehicles.
https://road.cc/content/news/council-u-turn-ban-cyclists-recycling-centr...
Basically you just book with a reg number of BIKE and turn up. Naturally of course it's not that easy. You have to queue with cars and you can only visit once per booking. Oh and bookings have to be a day in advance.
I do have to give them credit though because like Essex there was a time when bikes were banned. Then they ran a limited trial, then it got banned again because COVID (which was the source of the booking system) and finally I think it's possible at every site.
Naturally of course they recommend you wear hi-viz!
I hope Milton Keynes council are looking at this
Are bikes banned? It doesn't seem to say either way on their webpage on the subject.
I've been taking waste to Leighton Buzzard's tip on my cargo bike for several years, it always raises some eyebrows! I've never had an issue, but then obviously it's a different authority.
EDIT: Yikes, MKCC have a rule saying "Do not use mobile phones on site", good luck with that.
https://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/waste-and-recycling/how-dispose-househo...
I've been in the car and I had to give my car registration details when booking. Not sure what they would do if I turned up on a bike. Whilst it doesn't specifically say bicycles are banned on the website, it's not clear how you make a booking without a car.
Interesting, thanks. CBC briefly had a booking system during the height of the pandemic. I just gave them a fake licence plate number and put in the free text that it was a bike, and I didn't have any issues. They didn't even ask for my booking reference when I got there.
I'd guess that they don't need a booking system for people on bikes as there's less of them and they don't cause congestion. Before our one had bookings for cars, it used to take about an hour waiting in a queue to get in there.
Haven't you just proved there that letting in all those cyclists does cause congestion?
Edinburgh - had similar experiences to Boopop. I can't recall if they started out with it but they quickly added instructions to the form to state "BIKE" in the reg number. I suspect they don't adjust for bikes getting through there quicker so it probably doesn't cut down "congestion" in the booking system. When I've been on bike the guys there have just waved me in. Clearly use of the ol' mind trick "We are not the tradesmen you are looking for".