HOUSEHOLDS will be charged for dumping DIY waste at the Longshot Lane recycling centre in Bracknell from this Friday onwards. 

People dumping the likes of plasterboard, soil or rubble will have to pay a fee to do so from September 30 onwards after re3 announced it would need to begin cutting costs. 

Visitors will have their waste assessed on arrival at the Bracknell and Reading recycling centres, and will be charged for soil and rubble, plasterboard, asbestos and gas bottles.

Household waste will still be accepted without charge and the three partner councils behind re3, Reading, Bracknell Forest and Wokingham, say the charges only cover the cost of processing the waste and they do not profit from it.

Without charging for them, the councils claim, the estimated cost of re3 accepting them for free in 2016/17 would be £915,000.

Bracknell Forest’s Executive Member for Environment and Chairman of the Joint Waste Disposal Board, Cllr Dorothy Hayes said: “By introducing these charges, we are bringing the re3 recycling centres in line with what is happening at council-run recycling facilities elsewhere. Our goals are clear; to make essential waste management savings while continuing to provide the best value for money service.”

re3 will continue to accept all other household waste without charge including garden waste, white goods, large and small electrical items, wood, bric-a-brac and bulky household waste such as furniture, carpets and mattresses. Items that are brought in and still in good condition are donated to Sue Ryder to fundraise for hospice care.

For more information on what is accepted at re3 recycling centres, please visit http://www.fccenvironment.co.uk/re3-household-recycling-centres.html

A full list of charges is available in re3’s Waste Acceptance Policy on www.re3.org.uk