Tips reopen across Staffordshire

But visitors to Stone Recycling Centre on Friday were in praise of the efforts of staff – and the lack of queuing involved.

John Hammersley, of Stone, said: “I’ve previously used it regularly and the guys are really helpful.

“I’m dropping off some garden rubbish today. I’ve just kept it until I was allowed to come here.

“I came yesterday and had a wait of about 10 minutes – I was pleasantly surprised. At one place I heard there was 70 people queuing up.”

Fellow Stone resident Martin Ralph, 66, also of Stone, said: “I think this is the time to be here – it’s pleasantly quiet.

“I compost things at home but today I’ve brought hedge cuttings, garden waste and stuff I can’t recycle myself.”

Matt Chalmers, 43, also of Stone, who brought cardboard and packaging from items bought during the lockdown, said: “It’s alright, there wasn’t much of a queue. I was expecting one.”

And another visitor made use of his time at home to break up an old organ that has been in storage for a couple of years.

“It’s been in my garage for some time”, he explained. “My trip’s been great and the staff have been great – very friendly.”

A Staffordshire County Council spokesman said on Thursday that the average waiting time at the authority’s 14 household waste recycling centres was a little over 12 minutes.

Visitors to the Cannock site faced the longest wait, but at Stone the average waiting time was just seven minutes – and the site saw 194 visitors in total on its re-opening day.

Ahead of the Thursday re-opening of the county’s household waste recycling centres residents were urged to stagger their visit to prevent long queues from forming.

And on Friday morning another request was issued to residents using the busy Cannock site. They were urged not to turn up before the 9am opening time.

All Staffordshire County Council’s sites set to return to their normal hours by Monday May 18.