Good availability across West Lothian CRC sites
Availability remains good across West Lothian's five Community Recycling Centres (CRCs) following the introduction of a booking system
Good availability across West Lothian CRC sites
Availability remains good across West Lothian's five Community Recycling Centres (CRCs) following the introduction of a booking system.
A report to West Lothian Council's Environment and Sustainability Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel (PDSP) provides an insight in CRC usage following changes to opening hours and launch of the new booking system in October 2023.
Across the five sites, 191,395 bookings were made between 02 October and 30 April 2024, from the 219,690 slots that were available.
The CRC booking system ensures customers have guaranteed access and reduced waiting times. It also enables the Council to manage and prevent unauthorised commercial use or use from households from out with the West Lothian area.
The standard time slots for those visiting in a car are 30 minutes long. Each slot can be booked by between 20 and 30 customers, depending upon the capacity of the CRC. A 30-minute slot allows people the time to attend if they are delayed leaving or arriving at the site and allows operatives time to carry out operational tasks.
However, there has been a total of 13,601 'no shows' during the seven-month period.
Although this is just a small percentage of total slots available, West Lothian Council would like to remind customers of the importance of cancelling their booking if circumstances change and it is no longer required.
The report to PDSP also provides details on a project to install automated number plate recognition cameras (ANPR) at the CRCs. ANPR cameras would be integrated with the traffic barriers and the existing booking system to fully automate the entry and exit system to the CRC's providing a number of benefits to customers.
Officers continue to review the operation of the booking system in order to enhance the experience for customers.
The location of West Lothian's five CRC sites and their opening hours can be found on the West Lothian Council website: https://www.westlothian.gov.uk/local-recycling-centres
Full details on how to book a slot at a local CRC can be found by visiting: https://www.westlothian.gov.uk/crcbooking
