The Carr Road household waste recycling centre which will open by appointment only on Thursday has suffered problems with its booking system due to a huge demand.

A Suffolk County Council spokesman said: "We apologise for any technical problems you may be encountering at the moment. Demand to book an appointment at the recycling centres was always going to be very high and we have tried to bolster our website capacity to support additional traffic, but demand is very high.

"With sites being closed for seven weeks, we fully anticipated that appointments would go quickly today. If you didn't manage to book an appointment today, we are operating seven-day rolling appointments so each day new slots will be available to book.

"We know that this demand will subside as time progresses and we ask that if you can, please continue to store your waste at home until a time slot becomes available.

"Thank you for bearing with us – it was always going to be a challenge to deal with seven weeks of recycling."

A new online booking system for the appointment-only system is necessary to help reduce traffic disruption and queueing on roads around the sites and help manage additional demand on the waste sites.

There are also new temporary restrictions and guidelines in place at all sites to support the safety of staff and members of the public.

Suffolk County Council has been working with its contractor FCC Environment to put plans in place to re-open all eleven sites to make sure that visits to the Recycling Centres are as safe as possible for residents and staff.

In order to reopen the sites safely, people will need to book a time online when they can arrive and dispose of their waste. Through the online booking process, the council wants to limit the length of queuing on roads outside the Recycling Centres, which have occurred elsewhere in the country when sites have reopened. If you do not have an appointment, you will be denied access and turned away from the site.

Those who are shielding or at greatest risk of Covid-19 should continue to follow Government guidance and not visit a Recycling Centre.

There will be a phased approach to opening the sites fully in order to ease congestion and prioritise residents. There will also be a set of new temporary rules, which residents must check before arriving at the sites.

During phase one, these temporary rules include:

• No access to site without pre-booking

• Cars and pedestrians only - no vans, trailers or commercial-type vehicles

• One adult to unload, unless two adults needed for heavy items

• No staff assistance to unload vehicles

• No chargeable waste accepted (soil, rubble, hardcore or plasterboard)

• No trade waste

• No textiles or re-use items accepted

The booking system is designed to support social distancing by ensuring that only a safe number of visitors can access the sites at any one time. It will also help reduce waiting times for visitors and manage traffic to avoid a dangerous build-up of cars on the highway.

The booking site will be live from 3pm tomorrow, with the first appointments being made for Thursday. To make a booking, please visit www.suffolk.gov.uk/recyclingcentres or call 0345 606 6067.

In order to control the queues residents without a booking will not be able to enter the site. Residents must not arrive on site more than five minutes before their allocated time.