More than 3,000 people have booked appointments at Suffolk's recycling centres from Thursday within just two hours of the system going live.

Suffolk County Council announced that its 11 recycling centres, including carr Road in Felixstowe, would be open again from Thursday morning after seven weeks closed, but only to those who booked a slot.

The booking system went live at 3pm on Tuesday, with the council confirming that there had been 3,109 bookings as of 5pm.

The council tweeted: "Please be patient when booking and remember to book for ESSENTIAL waste disposal only, if you can store at home, please do. The guidance is still stay home if you can.

"If you don't manage to book an appointment today, we are operating seven-day rolling appointments so each day new slots will be available to book."

The bookings site briefly experienced some problems shortly after 3pm when more than 15,000 people attempted to access the site, but after a few minutes had returned to normal according to the authority.

Each week 13,912 slots will be available.

The system has been set up to mean that people can only book for the week ahead across the council's 11 sites, operating on 15-minute slots between 9am and 7pm.

Those booking are required to choose which recycling centre they wish to visit and provide details of their car make and model, colour and registration.

Councillor Paul West, cabinet member for waste said: "The new pre-booking system is designed to keep the public and staff as safe as possible on our sites.

"This controlled approach to re-opening the centres will reduce waiting times as well as traffic congestion.

"We realise that there will be a large demand for appointments and ask residents to be patient during the first few weeks and only bring waste or recycling that cannot be safely stored at home."

The sites will operate on a series of new rules to ensure safety, which includes only admitting people who have booked an appointment; no commercial vehicles, vans or trailers; only one person to unload except for items which were heavy; and no chargeable items including hardcore, rubble, soil or plasterboard.

To book a slot, visit www.suffolk.gov.uk/recyclingcentres or call 0345 606 6067.