\n The county council has launched a consultation, set to run until November 28, offering three options that would restrict how people bring their waste.\n<\/p>\n
\n It comes as the new Liberal Democrat administration scrapped previous plans for reduced opening days and a booking system, but still needs to find a way to cut costs and make sure the service remains financially sustainable.\n<\/p>\n
\n Option one would force residents to apply for an \u2018e-pass\u2019 online before turning up, which non-residents would be unable to do.\n<\/p>\n
\n The idea is that this would help the council keep out businesses and traders that should not be using the recycling centre.\n<\/p>\n
\n It would last for \u201ca number of years\u201d and those who need help applying would be supported, the council said.\n<\/p>\n
\n (Image: Hertfordshire County Council)\n<\/p>\n
\n Option two would introduce charges for \u201cexcess DIY waste\u201d, which would currently be refused, with costs such as \u00a34 for a 25-litre bag of cement, \u00a37.50 for a toilet, and \u00a34 for a radiator provided as examples.\n<\/p>\n
\n The free limit would seemingly still be two 50-litre rubble bags or one bulky item such as a fence panel, toilet, or kitchen cupboard for a single visit, but only if it was produced by householders doing DIY and not paid work.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n Option three would see anyone bringing unsorted unrecyclable rubbish directed to a special area of the recycling centre where they would have to separate it into different recycling containers themselves, or else be refused access.\n<\/p>\n
\n The council highlighted that a study revealed the average black bag of rubbish brought in was actually around 60 per cent recyclable.\n<\/p>\n
\n As well as boosting recycling, it would also help limit fire hazards to make the centres more efficient and cut costs.\n<\/p>\n
\n Waterdale Recycling Centre(Image: Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n
\n Councillor Paul Zukowskyj, who is responsible for environment measures, said: \u201cWe know how important recycling centres are to Hertfordshire residents, and that\u2019s why we want to hear from as many people as possible.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThis consultation is about exploring three new options to make the service financially sustainable and as effective as possible for our residents.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe want to listen to those of you who use recycling centres regularly to help us make the right decision for the future.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Respondents are asked to rank the three options in order of preference, and the findings will go to the council\u2019s cabinet before a decision is made in February 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The county council has launched a consultation, set to run until November 28, offering three options that would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-192898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}