Cornwall’s Household Waste and Recycling Centres are to reopen next Tuesday - but there will be restrictions on when people can visit and what they can bring.

Cornwall Councillor Andrew Wallis said on Facebook that most of the centres will reopen on May 19, except for Tintagel, Dudnance Lane and Saltash.

He said: "Unfortunately, reopening the household waste and recycling centre is not as simple as just unlocking the gates and it has to be done in such a way that protects the safety and wellbeing of staff and the public.

"Each site is different and presents its own particular set of challenges. Therefore we are introducing restrictions to ensure we can operate them safely."

The council has been putting together bespoke plans, including traffic management and social distancing systems, to protect the safety of site users and staff.

If it is not satisfied that a site is operating safely, or if traffic congestion is creating issues on the public roads, then facilities may be closed at short notice.

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The centres will be open for essential use only, meaning general rubbish (black bag waste or bulky items) and garden waste that cannot be stored safely at home without risk of injury or harm to health.

Kerbside rubbish, recycling, garden and bulky waste collection services will continue to run as normal and people should check first if they can dispose of their waste by one of these services before going to a centre.

The council said that centres that had reopened in other parts of the country had seen very long queues on reopening and it was expected the same would happen in Cornwall.

To help alleviate some pressure the council will be operating traffic management systems and restricting when people can visit a centre, using a vehicle number plate system.

This means that if the last digit of your number plate is an odd number - 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9 - you may only visit a centre on an odd date of the month, such as May 19, 21, 23, 25, 27 etc.

If the last digit of your vehicle number plate is an even number – 0, 2, 4, 6 or 8 - then you may only visit a centre on an even date of the month - for example May 20, 22, 24, 26 etc.