Nottinghamshire County Council has issued a warning, as 'huge queues' have formed within the first hour of recycling sites being reopened.
The council has said the tailbacks of cars, particularly at the Beeston and Newark sites, are causing "dangerous highway situations".
Pictures and video footage from the Beeston site shows cars tailing back along Lilac Grove towards Midfix from first thing on Monday morning.
Tips across the county reopened on Monday, May 18 for the first time in months causing a surge of traffic on nearby roads.
Traffic enforcement has had to be put in place but the council says this is being ignored which could cause potential difficulties for blue light services such as police, ambulance and fire crews.
The tips have reopened after a lengthy closure, but the council wants to urge people to wait until the trip is essential before visiting.
Beeston, Bilsthorpe, Calverton, Hucknall, Newark and Worksop Recycling Centres are among those reopened today, but all are open seven days a week from 10am to 6pm - except for Newark which is 10am until 4pm daily.
A tweet from Nottinghamshire County Council said: "Listen up Notts - we're already experiencing HUGE queues at the HWRC sites that have reopened and they've only been open an hour.
"This is causing DANGEROUS highway situations across the county, especially around Newark and Beeston. Only essential visits should be made.
"Traffic enforcement is in place, but unfortunately many are ignoring the advice - creating dangerous situations potentially for blue light services needing to get around the county
"We can't stress this enough, this is the FIRST DAY sites have reopened - you DO NOT need to rush there, please wait a few days.
"The reopened sites in Notts are open 7 days a week 10am to 6pm (except Newark which is open 10am to 4pm daily)."
You can follow our live updates on this situation over on our blog, here.
