'We've listened': Council finally open all tips SEVEN DAYS a week across West Northants including Sixfields

From April 1, 2025, West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) will enter a new contract with FCC Waste Services - better known as FCC Environment - which will manage the six recycling centres across the unitary area. The contract is in place until 2040.

The new contract means Sixfields, Ecton Lane, Daventry, Towcester and Brixworth Household Recycling Centres and Farthinghoe Recycling and Reuse Centre will open from 10am to 4pm, seven days a week. Farthinghoe is the only tip that currently operates seven days a week.

A spokesman for the council said: “Feedback from residents helped shape the future of waste and recycling services in West Northants as part of the development of its Resources and Waste Strategy in 2023. Their feedback highlighted that they want to have access to reuse, recycle and dispose of their waste more often and at a time that is convenient for them.”

The new contract will also see an onsite reuse shop at Sixfields. Farthinghoe already has a shop. They will both be run by a charity partner and residents will be able to visit the recycling centres and shop to donate items suitable for reuse/sale.

Steve Longdon, Chief Executive Officer of FCC Environment said: “We are delighted to have been appointed to manage the six recycling centres across WNC until 2040. We are focused on providing over 425,000 residents with a welcoming and efficient household waste reuse and recycling service and we are looking forward to helping them reduce, reuse and recycle more than ever before.”

WNC has also awarded a second contract for the treatment waste that is collected in residents’ black bins or sacks, and cannot be recycled, to Thalia Waste Management. The council says residents will see no changes to their current collection arrangements. This contract, which will also start on April 1, 2025, will ensure at least 95 percent of residual waste will be treated, significantly reducing the amount sent to landfill, according to the council.

The new contract will not limit changes that can be made to kerbside waste collections, meaning the council can maximise the amount of recycling in West Northamptonshire.

Councillor Rebecca Breese, WNC’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Recycling and Waste said: “The signing of these two new contracts will improve our recycling centres and provide greater convenience to people, which is great news. We’ve listened to people’s feedback, and by opening them seven days a week and introducing a new reuse shop at the Sixfields centre, we are making it easier than ever for people to recycle and dispose of their waste responsibly. Both contracts reflect our commitment to sustainability and delivering value for money to our communities.”

Prior to the new contract, tips across West Northamptonshire are only open on certain days – five days a week. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the council made a temporary decision to increase tip opening days to six days a week, due to increased demand, which saw long queues. The five-day-a-week schedule was re-introduced in 2021 and was met by criticism.

The tips used to be run by Northamptonshire Country Council and Daventry, Ecton Lane and Sixfields all opened seven days a week until 2015.