Nottingham Tips & Recycling Centres — Addresses, Opening Hours & Rules

Trying to work out which tip you're actually allowed to use in Nottingham? It's more confusing than it should be, because the city and the county run separate recycling centres with different rules — and turning up at the wrong one, or without registering, can get you turned away. This guide lists every recycling centre near Nottingham for 2026: addresses, seasonal opening hours, who can use each, the registration and van rules, and what to do when the tip won't take what you've got.

The one thing to understand first: city vs county

Nottingham has two separate tip systems, and which you can use is decided by where you live — not just which site is closest:

• Nottingham City residents use the city's own site at Redfield Road (Lenton). No vehicle registration needed, but it's city-residents-only and you may be asked for ID.
• Surrounding borough residents (Broxtowe, Gedling, Rushcliffe, Ashfield and the rest of the county) use the Nottinghamshire County sites — Beeston, Calverton, West Bridgford, Hucknall and others. These require you to register your vehicle online in advance.
• Long Eaton residents are actually in Derbyshire, so their nearest site is Ilkeston, run by Derbyshire County Council.

Use the wrong authority's site and you can be refused entry. So the first question isn't "which tip is nearest?" — it's "which am I allowed to use?" Here's each one.

Redfield Road (Lenton) — the Nottingham City tip

Address: Redfield Road, Lenton Industrial Estate, Nottingham, NG7 2UJ

Full guide: Redfield Road tip opening times, van and rubble limits, and the fridge rule.

This is the tip for Nottingham City residents — the one most people mean when they search "nottingham tip." No vehicle registration is required, but it's for city residents only and you may be asked to show your driving licence as proof. Opening hours are seasonal: 8am–8pm April to September, 8am–6pm in March and October, and 8am–4pm November to February, and you must have left the site by closing time. It's open every day except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. It takes the usual household range — fridges, appliances, hardcore and rubble, soil, wood, garden waste, glass, electricals and more. No trade or business waste is accepted, and no van or pick-up can tow a trailer there. DIY renovation waste is allowed in limited amounts if you did the work yourself.

Beeston Recycling Centre

Address: Lilac Grove, Beeston, NG9 1PF (Nottinghamshire County)

The nearest county site for Beeston, Chilwell, Bramcote and much of the south-west. You must register your vehicle with Nottinghamshire County Council before visiting (up to two vehicles per household). Seasonal hours as above — 8am–8pm in summer. It's also the easiest county site to use if stairs are a problem, as it has no steps or elevated ramps, and it runs a Community RePaint point for usable leftover paint. We've written a full standalone guide to this one — opening times, the DIY limits and the registration rules: see the Beeston tip & recycling centre guide, or our Beeston waste removal page for local collection.

West Bridgford Recycling Centre

Address: Rugby Road, West Bridgford, NG2 7HX (Nottinghamshire County)

The closest county site for West Bridgford, Gamston and the Rushcliffe area. Vehicle registration required, seasonal hours. Note this is one of the busier sites, so evenings and midweek are quieter. More local detail is on our West Bridgford waste removal page.

Full guide: West Bridgford tip opening times, registration, van rules and queue tips.

Calverton Recycling Centre

Address: Hollinwood Lane, Calverton, NG14 6NR (Nottinghamshire County)

The nearest county site for Arnold, Carlton and the Gedling area to the north-east. Vehicle registration required, seasonal hours. Vans, pick-ups and trailers no longer need a paper permit here — they register the same way as a car — but a hire van still needs to be cleared with the council at least 24 hours ahead, and from 2 January 2027 every van will need a pre-booked slot. See our Arnold and Carlton pages for how this fits with the local Gedling collections, or our guide to which tip you can use in Gedling, Carlton and Arnold.

Giltbrook Recycling Centre (Kimberley and Eastwood)

Address: Gilt Hill, Giltbrook, Nottingham, NG16 2HR (Nottinghamshire County)

The county site people mean when they search for "Kimberley tip" or "Eastwood tip", because neither town has a recycling centre of its own. Vehicle registration required, seasonal hours: open 8am every day, closing at 4pm in winter, 6pm in March and October and 8pm from April to September. Full details in our Giltbrook tip guide.

Hucknall Recycling Centre

Address: Wigwam Lane, Hucknall, NG15 7SZ (Nottinghamshire County)

Serves Hucknall and the north of the conurbation. Registration required, seasonal hours. We've written a full standalone guide to this one — opening hours by season, phone number, registration and what to do if you've got more than it can handle: see the Hucknall tip & recycling centre guide.

Ilkeston (for Long Eaton)

Address: Manners Avenue, Manners Industrial Estate, Ilkeston, DE7 8EF (Derbyshire County)

Long Eaton sits in Derbyshire, so its nearest site is Ilkeston, run by Derbyshire County Council — a completely separate system with its own registration (ANPR-enforced, and vans need a permit for every visit). For opening times and rules, see our sister site's Ilkeston tip guide. Full detail is on our Long Eaton waste removal page.

Tips across the rest of Nottinghamshire

The same county system, registration and seasonal hours cover the recycling centres further out. If you're in the north or east of the county, these are your sites, each with its own guide:

• Mansfield tip — Kestral Road, Mansfield NG18 5FT
• Kirkby tip — Sidings Road, Kirkby-in-Ashfield NG17 7JZ
• Newark tip — Brunel Drive, Newark NG24 2EG
• Worksop tip — Shireoaks Road, Worksop S80 3HA
• Retford tip — Hallcroft Road, Retford DN22 7SS
• Warsop tip — Oakfield Lane, Warsop NG20 0JG
• Bilsthorpe tip — Brailwood Road, Bilsthorpe NG22 8UA

The rules that catch people out

Across all these sites, the same handful of things trip people up:

• Registration and residency — county sites need your vehicle registered in advance; the city site needs proof you're a city resident. Turn up without either and you can be refused.
• Vans and trailers — the old paper permit system has been scrapped at the Nottinghamshire county sites, so vans, pick-ups, trailers and sign-written vehicles now just register like any other vehicle. A hire van is different: you must clear it with the council at least 24 hours before you go and bring the hire agreement. And from 2 January 2027, every van will need a pre-booked slot at the county sites. At the city's Redfield Road site, vans don't need booking or registration, but no van or pick-up can tow a trailer there. See our Redfield Road guide.
• No trade waste, ever — if the waste came from work you were paid to do, the tip won't take it. That's a licensed commercial collection, not a household tip run.
• DIY waste limits — these are stricter than most people expect, and they're the usual reason a car gets turned away. At the county sites, it's two 50-litre bags or one item no bigger than 2000mm × 750mm × 700mm per visit, with a cap of four visits per household in any four-week period. At Redfield Road, it's two 50-litre rubble bags, or one bulky item such as a bath or shower screen, or one complete window unit. Anything beyond a minor repair — a full bathroom rip-out, a re-plastered room, a demolished shed base — isn't accepted at all, even if you did the work yourself.
• Restricted items — tyres, gas bottles and asbestos are limited, charged for or refused outright depending on the site, so check before loading rather than after.
• Seasonal hours — winter hours are much shorter (often closing at 4pm), and you need to be finished before closing time.

When a collection beats the tip

The tip is free, and for a boot-load of sorted recycling it's the obvious choice. But it stops being the easy option when any of these are true — and this is where a lot of people end up paying for a collection instead:

• You don't have a suitable vehicle, or don't want to risk your car with rubble or a mattress.
• You've got more than one carload — several trips, or more than the site's per-visit limit.
• The tip restricts or won't take it — trade waste, large volumes of DIY waste, or certain items.
• You can't face the faff — registration, the queue, the lifting, the seasonal hours.

Got an old sofa, couch or mattress? Our guide on how to get rid of a sofa or mattress in Nottingham covers the tip rules, what each council charges, and the free options.

It's worth doing the maths honestly: once you add up van hire, fuel, your time and a second or third trip, a "free" tip run often isn't much cheaper than having someone collect the lot in one go. A licensed man-and-van rubbish removal does the loading and takes it in a single visit, and for big or awkward items our bulky waste and furniture removal guide covers the options. Whoever you use, make sure they're a licensed carrier who gives you a waste transfer note — that's your protection under duty of care.

Frequently asked questions

Get free quotes from licensed Nottingham waste companies

If the tip isn't going to work for your load, comparing a few local collection quotes is the quickest way to sort it. Compare Waste Nottingham connects you with up to 3 vetted, fully licensed local companies, free — they load it, take it, and give you the waste transfer note for your records.

📞 Call 07348 454816 or get free quotes online.