From Thursday (April 23), people will be able to recycle a limited range of large electrical items at Norfolk County Council's 19 tips.

The authority had to bring in a temporary ban on such items following disruption caused by a "significant fire" at Wiser Recycling in Thetford.

Damage at Wiser Recycling in Thetford (Image: Denise Bradley)

That depot, in Brunel Way, was where the council's contractors took electrical items - such as fridge freezers, televisions and dishwashers - left at recycling centres, to be processed.

But when a fire, attended by almost 30 fire crews ripped through the buildings at just after 7pm on Thursday, April 16, it left it out of action.

The council said its tips could not accept electrical items as a result, while district council-run bulky waste collections were also affected.

Norfolk County Council's recycling centres are accepting some electrical items again (Image: Mike Page)

However, contingency arrangements means recycling centres will be able to accept these large electrical items from Thursday:

• Televisions/monitors

However, the tips will still not be able to accept smaller items, including:

• Any other small electrical and battery-powered items

The council said that was because these items require pre-sorting before onward transport, and there is currently no safe treatment capacity available for this process.

A spokesman said: "Norfolk County Council is continuing to work working closely with its contractor to restore full electrical waste services as quickly as possible.

"A further update will be provided once arrangements are in place to safely manage all types of waste electrical items.

"In the meantime, residents are reminded never to place electrical items or batteries in household waste bins, as this presents a serious fire risk.

"Residents are asked to store these items safely at home until services are fully restored."

The disruption may also continue to affect some district council bulky waste collections that include electrical items and kerbside collections of small electricals and batteries.

People are urged to check with their district councils whether their services are affected.

The blaze came at a time when the county council had already been forced to stop accepting fridges and freezers at its recycling centres.

That was because a fire at a West Midland business which dealt with those, coupled with a Welsh company which did likewise going into administration, left the council struggling to find somewhere to process them.

© Eastern Daily Press