OPENING hours at Hampshire’s 24 household waste recycling centres have changed.

The centres, open seven days a week, will now open an hour later and close an hour earlier following consultations with residents.

Until September 30, centres will open at 9am until 6pm, then from 9am to 4pm from October 1 to February 28.

Hampshire County Council’s executive member for economy, transport and environment, Cllr Seán Woodward, said: “There has always been a change in opening hours at our Household Waste Recycling Centres at the start of spring but following extensive public consultation, HWRCs will open an hour later throughout the year and close an hour earlier in the summer.

"These changes reflect customer feedback which showed that they would rather see sites open later rather than close one day each week or see any sites closed altogether. The new opening hours also keep the sites fully open during peak user times.

“Hampshire has an excellent record for diverting waste from landfill and has many more HWRC sites than other comparable areas. We are very committed to keeping up our record on landfill diversion and improving recycling in Hampshire, so we hope these small changes will not deter people from using our sites and instead continue to help us recycle as much waste as possible.”