The new facility has a one-way traffic system which ensures that public vehicles and contractor vehicles never meet. It has separate entrances to help reduce waiting times and has been designed to be safe and convenient.
Adrian Poller, strategic waste manager for Dorset County Council, said: “The challenge is to maintain the current 26 per cent recycling rate and the new site should help us to achieve this. Substantial improvements have been made and it is more attractive to the public.”
He added: “We have the highest civic amenity site recovery rate in the country of between 60 and 70 per cent and we had one-and-a-half million visitors last year.”
The site is 3,600 metres square and replaces a smaller one which did not meet safety standards. Dave Blackburn, contracts supervisor for waste management, said: “With the old site every time we had to move or empty a container we had to shutdown. The organisation of the new site means that it will remain open every day.”
The facility has been built on a former landfill site and half of the cost has been spent on restoring the land. Dave Blackburn added: “The new site has been totally surfaced and has oil interceptor pads to stop any leaks, should they occur, from polluting the groundwater.”
The civic amenity site expects to have about 160,000 visitors per year. It is managed on behalf of the council by Weymouth and Sherborne Recycling which is encouraged through financial incentives to recover as much waste as possible. The site has recycling facilities for a wide range of items including metal, oil, batteries and plastic bottles.
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