I love a trip to the tip, or to give it its proper title the ‘Household Waste and Recycling Centre’.

There is something very satisfying about having a clear out of junk, but no matter how many times I do it there is still more junk left to clear. Where does it all come from?

I reckon I visit the waste and recycling facility in Saltash twice a month. Sometimes it’s a car boot full of stuff and at other times just a couple of bags.

I am such a regular visitor that I should have some sort of loyalty card. I probably know the layout of the site almost as well as the staff who work there.

From metal to small electrical items, and garden waste to cardboard there is a skip for almost everything. That’s part of the appeal for me, knowing that much of my rubbish is hopefully going to be recycled.

As far as I am concerned the tip, or HWRC if you prefer, is one of the few tangible benefits of the Council Tax and regular readers will know how much I dislike the Council Tax. But the waste and recycling centre is a useful and important local amenity.

In fact it is so useful and popular that I have long feared some bright spark at County Hall could see it as another way to squeeze some more money out of us.

I vaguely remember stories over the years about possible plans to introduce some charges for using these facilities. It was usually followed by general uproar and genuine fears that any kind of extra charging would lead to an increase in fly tipping.

The idea of imposing any additional charges to use the tip always seemed like a false economy to me. It’s the council that has to clear up fly tipping, so what they’d earn in revenue from charging at the tip would probably be lost by clearing up stuff dumped by the side of the road.

Anyway, sense has so far prevailed and for most of us there are no charges for taking household waste and recycling to the various council centres across Cornwall.

So imagine my concern when a headline flashed up on my phone about changes to the way the Saltash waste and recycling centre operates.

I feared the worst. For a brief moment I thought the time had come when they were going to try to charge us a fee.

Thankfully that wasn’t the case. In fact it was a twist I wasn’t expecting at all; they’ve introduced a booking system!

This was big news in my neighbourhood, so much so that it was quickly shared on the local village Facebook page. My neighbour even came to my front door to make sure I had seen it. He loves a trip to the tip as much as me.

Seemingly out of nowhere, and as far as I can see with very short notice, the powers-that-be decided a trip to the tip has to be pre-planned and booked in advance.

No more spontaneous clearing out of the shed when the inspiration finally strikes. Yeah, right! How often does that happen?

It’s a job most of us keep putting off. It is much easier to close the door on the spare room that has become a junk room, or the garage that no longer has room for a car, but is instead home to broken household items and piles of other unwanted and unloved rubbish.

My garage has an old trampoline in various pieces and loads of tins of paint that only have a small amount left in them, but which I always think may come in useful one day. Instead the tins slowly rust and the paint turns rock hard.

Now though if the urge does suddenly strike you to finally sort out that pile of rubbish, you will need to book a half hour slot at Saltash.

The idea is to manage the amount of traffic going to the site. I have to admit it can be bedlam there sometimes.

I have often queued and watched with growing concern as the tailback behind me extended further and further, blocking entrances to businesses and adding to the general chaos on the roads around Carkeel roundabout.

Many times I have not even tried to join the queue and have simply turned around and gone home again.

So will the booking system help? Views on various social media groups have been mixed with some worried it will lead to more fly tipping, while others point out similar systems work well elsewhere in the UK.

I haven’t used the new booking system yet so I cannot comment on it. As soon as I heard it was coming I loaded up the car and made a quick tip trip to avoid having to book.

Ironically on that day it was really quiet and I drove straight in without the usual terrifying game of car jenga. Normally you need eyes in the back of your head to park there. Cars are coming at you from all directions, not to mention people wandering about carrying so many bags of rubbish that they can’t see where they’re going.

Perhaps the booking system will not only reduce queues on the surrounding roads, but also ease the stress once you’re on the site.

I will reserve judgement until I have used it, but I suspect many people will forget to book or simply not have known about it.

For others who have long put off that much needed sort out, the idea of being organised enough to book the tip will probably be a further excuse to put it off.

Time will tell whether this is a “rubbish” idea that will be consigned to a skip or whether it will be recycled everywhere else.

Bye for now.