Recycling facilities in March are set for a £3.9m upgrade, after Councillors backed proposals for a new site at the Environment & Green Investment Committee.
The project will relocate the Household Recycling Centre to land adjacent to the existing site on Hundred Road, March. The new split-level facility will be more accessible and make it easier for people to put items directly into containers, without the need to climb stairs. The larger site will also help meet the needs of the area’s growing population.
The larger site will offer an enhanced space for vehicle access, queuing, and car parking, as well as better providing for those who choose to travel to the site by bike or on foot. Access to the new site will remain via a new entrance from Hundred Road. There will also be new arrangements for the waste contractor’s vehicles to improve site safety.
The recycling centre will feature a purpose-built shop where residents can bring their unwanted but functioning items to be sold at low or no cost. It is hoped this will encourage the re-use of items that would otherwise go to waste, in line with Council ambitions for a greener Cambridgeshire where residents are supported to reduce, re-use, recycle and repair items to avoid contributing unnecessarily to landfill.
A consultation on changes to the household recycling facilities was carried out in summer 2022. Following a successful tendering exercise, the scheme costs have now been confirmed to be around £3.9m. These finalised costs add in inflation, as well as recent sector-wide increases in construction material costs and labour.
Relocation of the recycling facility means that the existing site can remain open throughout the works. Construction of the new site is anticipated to take around nine months and start early next year.
The existing March Household Recycling Centre site will return to the landfill tenant, FCC Environment, at the end of December 2025, so they can restore the site in line with planning requirements.
Chair of Cambridgeshire County Council’s Environment & Green Investment Committee, Councillor Lorna Dupre said: “From coffee pods and vapes to car parts and hardcore, our Household Recycling Centres accept a range of everyday items - we reuse and recycle as much as we can.
“The plans for the new split-level facility at March will make it even easier for people to recycle with more space to queue and then reverse park on an upper level, so residents can dispose of items into the containers below.
“We’re keen to create a greener Cambridgeshire for everyone, so I’m delighted the new Recycling Centre at March will also offer a re-use shop providing items for sale or for free, when suitable for further use.”
The tender for a design and build contractor was published earlier in the year with the Council receiving four bids for the works which have been evaluated for cost and quality by the Council’s independent consultants.
March Household Recycling Centre is open daily from Monday to Saturday, 8am to 4pm and 9am to 4pm on Sunday and most bank holidays during summer opening hours. Peak times are between 11am and 2pm and at weekends. March is one of nine Household Waste Recycling Centres in the county which are run by Thalia on behalf of Cambridgeshire County Council.
More information on what you can dispose of at your local household recycling centre can be found at: Household Recycling Centres | Cambridgeshire County Council.
Factfile
What can you dispose of at your Household Recycling Centre?
- Aerosols
- Batteries (including those from cars, mobile phones and power tools)
- Bicycles
- Black bin waste
- Bulky items
- Cardboard and paper
- Car parts (excluding tyres)
- CDs, DVDs and VHS tapes
- Chemicals (including garden chemicals in their original packaging)
- Coffee-pods
- Clothes and textiles
- Cooking oil
- Electrical items (including household fridges and freezers)
- Engine oil and filters
- Fire extinguishers (household only)
- Flammable liquids (including petrol, methylated spirits and paraffin etc to a maximum of 5 litres per household)
- Furniture
- Garden waste
- Glass
- Hardcore
- Garden furniture, dustbins and water butts
- Kitchen knives (ensure sharp parts are protected and cannot cause injury)
- Light bulbs (including energy saving bulbs)
- Loft insulation
- Mattresses
- Mercury thermometers
- Metals
- Mobile phones (please ensure data is removed)
- Nitrous oxide canisters (from household use)
- Pallets (non-returnable only)
- Paint
- Plasterboard
- Plastic bottles
- Printer cartridges
- Polystyrene
- Shoes
- Soil and spent compost (not turf)
- Timber
- Vapes
What isn’t accepted at your Household Recycling centre?
- Animal waste
- Bakelite products
- Car tyres
- Japanese knotweed and contaminated soil
Please note that not all sites accept all items, limits on amounts permitted for disposal may be in place and the acceptance of waste is subject to our construction demolition and DIY waste policy and at the site manager’s discretion.
