THE potential re-opening of more recycling centres is under constant review, Essex County Council has revealed.

A total of 15 recycling centres across Essex opened on Monday, with strict social distancing controls in place to ensure the safety of residents and site staff.

These restrictions will include limiting the number of cars on site at any one time.

However, recycling centres in Dovercourt, Lawford and Kirby le Soken were not included in the re-opening list.

Following the re-opening announcement, Harwich county councillor Ivan Henderson wrote an objection to Simon Walsh, the councillor responsible for environment and climate change action, for excluding the closest tips to Harwich.

He was concerned residents would have to drive an hour’s round trip to the nearest re-opened tip, which is in Clacton, just to dispose of rubbish.

But Essex County Council has now assured residents the potential re-opening of further recycling centres across the county is under “constant review”.

A spokesman for Essex County Council said: “We have re-opened 15 recycling centres across Essex.

“These sites are large enough to support appropriate social distancing rules and the additional health and safety measures that we have introduced to ensure residents and staff remain well.

“We must consider the health and safety of residents and staff working at all of our recycling centres and a decision will ultimately be driven by our desire to keep people safe.

“Any timescales for re-opening further sites will be proactively communicated when appropriate.”

Residents are urged to use a common-sense judgement to decide if the waste they have needs to go to the recycling centre, or if it can be stored safely until recycling centres return to normal.

If it does need to go to the recycling centre, residents must be aware there will be a long wait.

The safest way to get rid of your waste and recycling is using your kerbside collection.