A top boss at the county council has said the four Leicestershire tips could be closed for "a few weeks" as it battles increased demand and "unprecedented" events.

Joanna Guyll, assistant director for environment and waste management at Leicestershire County Council, spoke to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) about recent tip closures around the county.

It announced yesterday that it would be shutting four sites – Bottesford, Lutterworth, Oadby and Shepshed – indefinitely until the council deals with increased demand and three separate incidents, including fires affecting recycling plants across the country.

Mrs Guyll told the LDRS that there had been fires at recycling plants across the UK in the past few days, which had knock-on effects on how the council disposes of its waste.

She said: "We're having to slow the floor. It's backing up in the system.

"The staff are working extra hours, longer hours, we're doing night-time deliveries to get waste to their end destination.

"But it's the end destination that if there are problems with those outlets, it slows the floor. There are limits to what you can do when everything is full. You can't tip waste onto the floor, and you can't have it blowing around.

"Leicestershire tried really hard to be super resilient – we have a rich tapestry of facilities that were used, but it is kind of unprecedented".

Since Monday, firefighters have been battling a blaze at Recycle Force Ltd's processing plant in Corby, Northamptonshire, while another fire occurred at a waste management transfer station in Eynesbury, Cambridgeshire.

A fire also broke out at Smith Recycling in Chesney Wold, Milton Keynes, on Tuesday, August 11, with firefighters tackling the blaze in the early hours of the morning.

Mrs Guyll said that, because of recent recycling waste fires in other parts of the country, they were causing "pressure on the system".

She added: "Even if that means, in some cases, Leicestershire doesn't use those facilities, everyone else that does goes elsewhere.

"That means facilities fill up quicker or you have really long queues. You've got articulated lorries waiting for two or three hours to turn that waste around".

The LDRS asked Mrs Guyll what timeframe the council was looking at regarding re-opening the sites and admitted it could take "a few weeks" – but she added that she was looking to open the sites as soon as it's "safe" and "sustainable".

She added: "I'm not going to open them with a view of closing them again. I'm not going to cause that level of disruption.

"I'm going to get them open, and that might be sequentially. It might not be a big opening – and I mean open all four – but as soon as we're confident, we can meet demand.

"That could take us a few weeks."

However, the council boss added that once she was confident, she wanted to keep the sites open rather than potentially close them shortly after due to ongoing pressures.

"I genuinely think it is less disruptive to the public to say I will get these open as soon as I can," she added.

"That might be three days. It might be a week. It might be slightly longer than that, rather than say another date and not hit it."

Speaking about the current situation at waste sites that continue to operate across Leicestershire, she said it was "fragile" but that she wanted to "hold the line" and make sure residents were "guaranteed" to have sites to go to.

The LDRS asked if any other tip sites could potentially close; she said council workers would "do their utmost to make sure it doesn't happen" and have been trying to keep important tips, like Whetstone, open for residents.

"If it's within my control of how I can run the service, there won't be any more closures," she added.

"We still have a core service, and we have the facilities available".

Mrs Guyll also said that those with permits at closed sites would have them honoured at other sites, and there were no current restrictions on what residents could throw away.

A full list of currently open Leicestershire tips is as follows, with all seven closing at 4pm on Thursday, August 13, due to the heatwave:

• Barwell
• Coalville – currently open seven days a week
• Kibworth
• Loughborough
• Market Harborough
• Mountsorrell
• Whetstone