MALVERN'S Newland tip reopens after five months of extensive refurbishment on Monday (June 2).

The Worcester Road site has been improved to allow people to recycle their household waste more easily.

Cardboard, clothes, bottles, metal, cans, textiles, paper and garden waste will be accepted at the new split-level site, which has done way with the need for steps up to skips.

It also has facilities for disposing of car batteries, oil, fridges, freezers and gas bottles. However, there is no provision for recycling plastics.

Sylvia Herbert, of operators Severn Waste Services, said plastics were so light it would be impractical to collect them from sites like Newland. Plastic recycling facilities only exist next to reprocessing plants in Hereford and Pershore.

Malvern Hills District Council will also be offering kerbside collections of recyclable materials, including plastic. However, it could be nine months before the new dustcarts it needs arrive.

The Newlands site will be open from Monday to Saturday, 8am-6pm, and Sunday, 10am-4pm, only closing on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.

The recycling site in Hanley Road, Upton, which had been open seven days a week while the renovations took place, will revert to its normal hours of Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, 8am-6pm. Free bulky waste collections and additional skips provided during the refurbishment period will be withdrawn.

"We're confident the residents of Malvern will be pleased with their new transformed household waste site," said Worcestershire councillor Alwyn Davies, cabinet member for environment and sustainability.

"We would appeal to all those who visit it to ensure that care is taken to place items into the correct skips, so that we can carry out as much recycling as possible. Materials from the specially designated skips, such as scrap metal, glass and cardboard will be recycled. Those in the non-recyclable rubbish skip and the bulky rubbish skip will go to landfill."