Surrey recycling centre plans to save £2 million-a-year

Surrey County Council has launched a consultation on proposals to save up to £2 million-a-year from community recycling centres, while maintaining a high quality service at a time of unprecedented financial pressure.

The consultation, which runs until 7 August, coincides with the council facing severe financial pressure from falling government funding and rising demand for services such as children’s and adult social care and school places.

Therefore, residents are being asked for their views on options for making savings from the CRC service while still maintaining a comprehensive county-wide network of centres which would be open at the times they are most needed. This includes proposals for closing four smaller, less efficient CRCs, closing CRCs on two quieter weekdays, ending the free daily allowance of construction waste and ensuring CRCs are used only by Surrey residents.

Mike Goodman, the council’s cabinet member for environment and planning, said: “We face very tough decisions and we very much regret having to make these proposals but we have to save more than £100 million this year alone, including £2 million from community recycling centres, to deal with rising demand for things like children’s services, adult social care and school places. Despite that, our proposals would mean there would still be a comprehensive network of CRCs across the county and we will also continue our work to tackle fly-tipping which has dropped by more than 1,000 tonnes over the past year.”