Falkirk Council: Booking system to be introduced for recycling centres and later opening times

Members of Falkirk Council’s executive decided to make the changes at a meeting on Tuesday.

Malcolm Bennie, director of place services, told members that the e-booking system would make the sites safer for staff and visitors at Roughmute and Kinneil.

He said it would also reduce congestion, avoid queues building up and make trips quicker, while also ensuring that waste being brought to the sites comes from the Falkirk Council area.

Both centres will start to open from 10am, rather than 8am. Councillors were told that this would reduce the need for overtime and casual staff, which would help to cut costs.

Conservative councillor James Kerr was concerned that the online booking system would not suit everyone.

But Mr Bennie, said that 94 per cent of adults have a smartphone or tablet and those who did not could book through the council contact centre. He added that a number of other councils had introduced online booking systems during the pandemic, when demand was very high, and had kept them as they work well.

“I believe we can make it work in Falkirk,” he said. “It’s not about reducing the numbers coming in it’s about flattening out the numbers so it’s a regular amount per hour rather than a surge.”

Mr Bennie said that the facility at Roughmute, near Denny, had often seen queues back up onto the road, which was why the street layout had been changed earlier this year.

The new system will extend the booking system for commercial vehicles, which was introduced this year, using the MyFalkirk app.

The later opening time of 10am will not affect the current opening days (Kinneil, Saturday to Wednesday and Roughmute, Thursday to Monday).

However, at the moment half of the team of ten (full-time equivalent) staff work in line with the opening days of the site while the others work four days on, four off.

The report to councillors also said that the council is aiming to have staff working in line with opening hours and they will be speaking to staff and trade unions to establish this.