Businesses from outside Staffordshire will be banned from disposing of trade waste in the county's recycling centres.

Staffordshire residents who want to use vans and trailers to take their household waste to centres will need a permit – and be restricted to 12 visits a year – as part of the system shake-up which aims to reduce queuing and delays.

The non-Staffordshire trade waste ban is due to come into force next month, with the permit system being introduced for vans and trailers in the autumn. But Staffordshire residents using cars will be able to continue visiting the recycling centres as usual.

The changes were approved by Staffordshire County Council's cabinet on Wednesday (May 17). The authority took management of the county's 14 Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) back "in house" last year.

Councillor Simon Tagg, cabinet member for environment, infrastructure and climate change, said: "Improvements have taken place and there are plans for even more improvements. Our priority for our sites is to serve the residents of Staffordshire – there are over 1.6m visits per year across the county which shows how valued they are for people to dispose of their recyclable material.

"A consultation was carried out on changes to the trade use and bulky waste. This will help to curb queues, make the service better for our residents and help address issues we have experienced, particularly because of trade waste vehicles taking space and considerable time to offload their waste.

The aim of the new restrictions is to reduce queues and improve the service for local residents (Nub News).

"We have listened to what people said in the consultation. And they believe that a permit for residents for vans and trailers will be the best way forward.

"This will allow them to make 12 visits per year. But Staffordshire residents with cars will be able to use those sites for free without any need for a permit as they do at the moment.

"Some of our sites at the moment are open to trade use from outside the county, which is waste that's not generated in the county but then has to be recycled at a cost here. For businesses in Staffordshire there's going to be a process for them to still use the sites to get rid of waste, but those outside the county will not be able to use these sites in future."

Councillor Tagg added that the authority had taken on board fears of flytipping, but said these were "unfounded". "Whenever changes are made – whether it's waste collections or recycling sites – there's always the fear that there will be flytipping", he told cabinet members.

Council leader Alan White said: "People's kneejerk reaction is to say 'there will be more flytipping. The concerns about flytipping are clearly addressed."

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