Booking system upgrades make it easier to visit the city’s Household Recycling Centres

Further improvements are being made to the online booking system used to access the city’s five Household Recycling Centres (HRCs).

With effect from Monday (December 21), the introduction of the same day booking system will enable residents to book available slots from a minimum of just two hours ahead of a visit on the same day. The earliest that slots can be booked is three days in advance.

Previously, the latest you could leave it to book a slot was two days before the visit.

In addition, households will be able to book more than one visit a week – but multiple bookings cannot be made at the same time.*

All visits to Birmingham household recycling centres require a slot to be booked online ahead of visits.

All other guidelines in place as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic remain in place and are detailed on the web booking page.

Cllr John O’Shea, Cabinet Member for Street Scene and Parks at Birmingham City Council, said: “Ever since we brought in the booking system to address the long queues that were forming during the initial COVID-19 lockdown, we have been keen to look at how we enhance the service to give people as much flexibility as possible when planning a trip to any of our HRCs.

“Feedback has been overwhelmingly in favour of the booking system, but we know we have to get the balance right.

“Alongside our partners at Veolia, we have come up with a solution that does just that – whilst ensuring people can still access our facilities in a safe, COVID-secure way.”

Mark Powell, General Manager at Veolia in Birmingham said: “We are delighted to introduce the next phase of improvements to the online booking system that allows Birmingham residents the ability to book a slot and visit the household recycling centres on the same day where possible. 

“We’re also pleased that residents can now make more than one trip to the recycling centres per week provided any existing bookings have been attended first.”