The bunkers at the Gateway Road RRC

Gateway Road RRC is now closed

NLWA closed the Gateway Road Reuse and Recycling Centre (RRC) on 4 November 2024. This followed a six-week consultation we conducted to hear residents’ views on the potential impacts of closing the site, and a further notice period.

Frequently asked questions 

When did Gateway Road RRC close? 

The site’s last day of operation was Sunday 3 November. 

Why did Gateway Road RRC close? 

For a long period of time, reuse and recycling centres were the only option for residents to dispose of and recycle a number of material types and large amounts of waste. Since then, services have evolved, and in recent years the services available to residents have increased and improved significantly. This includes collections of a wider range of materials from the doorstep and alternative places to drop-off certain types of waste. 

The financial pressure on north London boroughs and North London Waste Authority (NLWA) is continuing to increase as demands for our services grow and our budgets are continuing to be squeezed. To manage these pressures, NLWA needs to continually review the services we provide to ensure they meet the needs of residents at an affordable price.  

We therefore decided to close Gateway Road RRC in Waltham Forest. The cost of operating Gateway Road was set to increase by a significant amount, and as a result, closing the site is the right course of action which will enable NLWA to continue delivering services at great value to residents. 

You can read more about our decision and the outcomes of our consultation in the report on our RRC network we put to Authority members, or in summary at the bottom of this page.  

What will happen to the staff at Gateway Road? 

Bywaters, which operates Gateway Road, have confirmed they have adequate vacancies within their wider operation to make suitable alternative offers of employment to all current Gateway Road colleagues.  

Where else can I take my waste and recycling? 

The closest alternative RRC to Gateway Road is South Access Road, which is located approximately 1.9 miles away, around seven minutes by car or 11 minutes by bicycle. 

Image
A Google map image showing the 7-minute car journey from Gateway Road RRC to South Access Road RRC

In addition to South Access Road, north London residents have the ability to use any other RRC within the north London area, including the brand new Edmonton EcoPark RRC which opened in July. 

There are also a number of other options available for various items, including arranging for them to be collected from your property, or taking them to designated drop-off points. 

If you want to recycle electrical items:

  • Small electricals can be brought to a number of drop-off points, many of which are nearby to Gateway Road, or even closer to your home. These locations can usually be found in supermarkets and other large stores. Some of the closest points to Gateway Road RRC include:
    • Currys – Leyton, Unit C Leyton Mills Retail Park, Leyton, E10 5NH
    • B&Q – Leyton, Units A&B - Leyton Mills Retal Park, Leyton, E10 5NH
    • John Lewis – Stratford, Westfield Stratford, E20 1EL.
    • You can search online for more drop-off points.
    • There are also many on-street recycling banks for electricals across north London. Use our webpage to find locations of these on-street electrical recycling banks.
    • If you live in Waltham Forest, you can place small electricals (no bigger than 52cm x 51cm in size) in a carrier bag on top of your recycling bin on your regular collection day, free of charge. Visit the Waltham Forest council website for more information.
  • Large electrical items can be collected from your home by your local authority. Your local authority may charge for booking this service. 
    • If you live in Hackney, you can use Hackney council’s bulky waste collection service to have large electricals collected from your home.
    • If you live in Waltham Forest, you have access to free collection of large electrical appliances from your home. Visit our webpage to book large electrical collections. 

If you want to recycle textiles:

  • Textiles in reusable condition can be brought to a number of drop-off points, which are located in many places across north London. Some of the closest points to Gateway Road RRC include:
    • Grange Park Road, Leyton, E10 5EP
    • Salvation Army Clothing Donation Bank, ASDA Store, 1 Marshall Road, Leyton, E10 5NH
    • Opposite King Edward Road, Junction Hainault Road/High Road, Leyton, E10 6RT.
    • Visit the Recycle Now website for more locations of textile recycling banks. 
  • Reusable clothes can also be collected directly from your home for free through TRAID - you can book a TRAID collection online.  
  • If you live in Waltham Forest, textiles can also be collected free of charge alongside your regular recycling collections. All you need to do is place your textiles in a carrier bag on top of your recycling bin on your regular collection day.

If you want to recycle or dispose of bulky items:

  • Your local authority offers a bulky waste collection service for items to be collected from your home: 
    • If you live in Hackney, visit the Hackney council website for details on the cost of this service. 
    • If you live in Waltham Forest, you have access to a free large household item collection through the local authority. Waltham Forest will collect up to five items for free per booking. Visit the Waltham Forest council website for details of this service. 

If your items are reusable or repairable:

  • There are many platforms available to give your items away for reuse or repair. Examples include Freegle, Freecycle, Gumtree and more. These websites allow you to list these items online for people who may be interested in them.
  • Many charity shops offer free household collections for items that can be donated to their stores. Examples include the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK and more.

What consultation did you do with residents about this decision? 

Before we made a decision on the future of Gateway Road, we listened to residents’ views on how the proposed closure could impact them. To enable this, we ran a six-week consultation, starting on 31 July and finishing on 11 September.  Questions included closed and open response fields to allow residents to share their views. We then collected this information to inform our final decision on the future of the site. 

To ensure as many residents as possible could participate in the survey, we promoted it widely. This included: 

  • Information on the council and NLWA websites (the latter viewed over 2,000 times) 
  • A media statement resulting in local media coverage 
  • On-site signage and leaflets (we estimate these would be seen by about 3,000 site visitors) 
  • A staff member on-site to advise residents and provide assistance  
  • Social media advertising (reaching over 30,000 residents) 
  • Inclusion in NLWA and council newsletters (reaching nearly 200,000 subscribers) 

What were the outcomes of the consultation? 

Residents highlighted what they felt would be the most significant impacts of site closure.  

The most significant theme of feedback was that residents felt it would be more inconvenient to travel further, especially if coming without a car. This was mentioned by 69% of respondents. 

Waltham Forest is in the fortunate position that there will still be two RRCs in the borough, including South Access Road, which is less than two miles from Gateway Road RRC and only a seven-minute drive. This is a highly suitable alternative for the 85% of survey respondents who stated they visit Gateway Road by car. We have also recently improved pedestrian and cycle access at South Access Road, and continue to improve access facilities at all sites. 

Other themes of feedback mentioned by smaller numbers of residents included: 

  • 21% of respondents were concerned that it would discourage recycling or increase fly-tipping 

With an ever-increasing range of materials collected at home (such as textiles or bulky items), RRC usage actually accounts for only 5% of recycling collected in north London. Without Gateway Road north London still has eight RRCs in total, which per capita represents a similar RRC coverage to most other major waste authorities. This includes the new RRC at the Edmonton Ecopark, which was completed in July and is now fully operational and open to the public. All residents of north London can use any of these RRCs free of charge.  

Research suggests there is little evidence that the reduction of free RRC services results in an increase in fly-tipping. Fly-tipping is illegal and those inclined to irresponsibly dump their waste are unlikely to be users of any RRC, even one close by.  

  • Around 14% of respondents said that were concerned about an increase in car journeys in the area with residents travelling to other sites, and the increased emissions resulting from these journeys. 

We accept that additional travelling will be required for some residents to visit another RRC. However, due to the short distance between Gateway Road and South Access Road, we don’t expect these journeys to be significantly longer. Using the postcodes provided by respondents, we have estimated an average additional driving time of 2.2 minutes for those who are required to travel further. Furthermore, the increase in household collections assists with reducing car journeys to RRCs altogether. 

Our analysis of this feedback from residents allowed us to come to the view that we can provide adequate recycling facilities for local residents without incurring the increasing costs of operating Gateway Road. As such, the Authority made the decision to close the site. You can read more about this decision and the outcomes of the survey in our report.