Guildford Borough Council Cut Recycling Centres in Ash.

Guildford Borough Council (GBC) are to Cut Recycling Centres in Ash, known as “Bring Sites”. These cutbacks are not limited to Ash, they impact all sites across the Borough.  GBC said that they “have recently reviewed our bring site provision and have come to a view that they are no longer needed”. Also the Council is “now able to collect everything from households that we do from these sites (we even collect excess recycling from next to the bin) rendering them a duplication of services“. GBC report that these sites are challenging and costly to maintain as they have become hot spots of fly-tipping and commercial waste abuse. The Borough Council has not confirmed what additional measures it will take to combat flytipping at these sites after the removal of the bins. The Council Executive has approved the removal of this service from January 2024.

What are Bring Sites?

The Bring Sites were introduced by GBC as a way to allow residents to recycle items that would not otherwise fit in the green and purple recycling boxes. Since then these have been replaced with larger green bins, in which all accepted recycling can be placed. This means residents did not need to visit the larger Community Recycling Centres for small amounts of additional recycling, which provides facilities for Glass, Plastic, Metals, Card, Foil, Textile and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment recycling (WEEE).

What are the alternative options?

GBC has advised Many of these items can now be collected from the resident’s home as part of the bi-weekly collection service. For example:

• Carboard can be torn up and placed next to your bin for collection
• Electronic Equipment recycling  (WEEE) including batteries can be placed on top of the bin provided it fits in a standard carrier bag.
• Textile can be placed on top of the bin provided it fits in a standard carrier bag.
• Other items that would usually be put in recycling bins can also be placed in a plastic carrier bags for side waste collection, black sacks won’t be taken, only see-through small carrier bags.

However, Ash Residents have previously complained on social media that this additional service is intermittent. The refuse trucks have a limited capacity and when full, these additional items can be left uncollected for weeks. The council staff advised that this is because the trucks have a limited capacity to transport these additional items and if your home is at the end of a route it is less likely to be collected. Now that these bring sites are to be closed, there will be additional stress on the home collection service, which may not be able to scale to meet this new demand.

Ash Bring Site bins to be removed

The following sites are impacted by the changes in January 2024.

Coronation Gardens

• Glass
• Plastics
• Metals
• Card
• GBC Foil bank
• Cystic Fibrosis Textiles bank
• Soex shoes and Textiles bank
• Litter bin
• SCC WEEE bank

Carrington Recreation Ground

• Glass
• Plastics
• Metals
• Card
• Cystic Fibrosis Textiles bank

Ash Football Club

• Glass

Community Recycling Centres

Surrey has many Community Recycling Centres which will remain open for Surrey residents to use. There is no need to book, residents queue in their vehicles at the entrance as before until a safe parking spot becomes available. Our nearest recycling centres to Ash Parish are:

• Farnham (Bourne Mill, Farnham, Surrey, GU9 9PS)
• Camberley (Wilton Road, Camberley, Surrey GU15 2QW)
• Guildford (Moorfield Road, Slyfield Green Industrial Estate, Guildford, Surrey GU1 1RU)

Each centre offers a wide variety of waste and recycling options, however, these do vary between each site, please check the site page before you visit. The opening times also may differ, which are also published online. Residents are asked to only bring what they can safely carry as site staff are no longer able to assist with moving waste.