THE booking system for Fife's recycling centres will be scrapped "as soon as possible".

It was brought in during lockdown to help control access to the sites and keep staff and customers safe but with restrictions easing, councillors felt the time was right for it to go.

The decision was confirmed at a Fife Council meeting last week although anyone wishing to dispose of household rubbish at a site using a "commercial vehicle" or trailer will still have to go online and make an appointment.

A date for the removal of the booking system for car drivers has not yet been given – it'll be "weeks rather than months" – as nine powered access barriers, costing just over £40,000 in total, will need to be installed at site entrances.

Ken Gourlay, head of assets, transportation and environment, said the council was using the DVLA definition of a commercial vehicle and that Fifers would be able to check on the website if their vehicle complied.

He told the environment and protective services sub-committee: "In essence, those with bigger vehicles that want to deposit household waste either from their vehicle or a trailer would get into the sites but they'd have to book an appointment.

"That will help us control access and waste streams into the sites, it's going to retain the benefits for staff, in particular by removing the conflict that existed previously, and hopefully make sure we get domestic waste only through the sites, which is what they are intended for."

There have been worrying incidents at recycling centres and committee convener Councillor Ross Vettraino told the Press previously about workers being "threatened by people with wheel braces" when asked if they were bringing in rubbish that they shouldn't.

Mr Gourlay said: "I'm not saying it happened all the time but there was conflict at the sites where some in vans or trailers were turning up regularly and the suspicion being that they were depositing commercial waste but there was very little way of proving that."

He added that the booking system, which requires people to register their details, had helped stop that illegal dumping of commercial waste at centres which was costing taxpayers around £1.5 million a year.

And he continued: "The barrier system will still offer the protection to staff so people coming in with bigger vehicles that potentially have commercial waste will have an appointment booked and we'll be able to stop that individual if required."

Cllr Judy Hamilton said it was a "very controversial issue" and added: "Fly-tipping has definitely increased so hopefully this will go some way to reducing that."

Cllr David Barratt said the definition of "what is a commercial vehicle and what isn't" needed to be clearer and that he'd struggled to find a straight answer on the DVLA website.

Asked for a timescale on the removal of the booking system, Mr Gourlay said: "We're really talking weeks rather than months.

"I can't commit to a date but the plan is to get the measures put in place as soon as possible, get that date shared with the public and communicate it widely to make sure everyone knows what's happening."

Councillors concerned about queuing traffic at sites were told that staff, rather than the police, would manage the situation with the expectation that any issues would "settle down" after a few weeks.

He said officers were still looking at access to six sites, including Dalgety Bay and Lochgelly, for pedestrians and cyclists but not at others, such as Dunfermline, due to their out-of-town locations.

Cllr Vettraino repeated his view that "council policing of environmental vandalism is not as good as it could be" and the resources to carry out that enforcement should be better organised and managed.

He said he hoped his new environmental vandalism strategy, to crack down on fly-tipping and illegal dumping, would be ready for approval in November.