Bishop's Stortford tip: shut Tue and Wed, ePass needed

Bishop’s Stortford recycling centre is open 8.30am to 4pm on Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and closed every Tuesday and Wednesday. It is on the Woodside Industrial Estate off Dunmow Road, CM23 5RG. Since this spring every car also needs a free ePass, including cars from Hertfordshire.

If you turn up on a Tuesday or Wednesday, the nearest centres open that day are Ware, which opens every day, and Turnford.

The quick answer

• Hours: 8.30am to 4pm, Monday and Thursday to Sunday. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
• ePass: every visitor now needs one. It is free, it is linked to your number plate, and there is no booking.
• Christmas: closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, as every Hertfordshire centre is. This year that is Friday 25 December, Saturday 26 December and Friday 1 January.

Opening times for the four nearest centres

All four are run by Hertfordshire County Council. The hours below are from each centre’s own page on the county’s site, checked on 25 September 2026 (Bishop’s Stortford, Ware, Hoddesdon, Turnford).

Bishop’s Stortford is the early one. It opens an hour and a half before the others and closes an hour and a half sooner, so an after-work run on a weekday does not work here. Ware does.

The Bishop’s Stortford times have moved slightly this year. Archived copies of the council’s page from May and December 2025 show 8am to 4pm; by April 2026 it read 8.30am. If you remember an 8am opening, that is why the gate is still shut.

There are no separate winter hours: the council’s page shows the same times all year.

The ePass: what changed

The council’s ePass page is blunt: “You must have an ePass to visit any Hertfordshire recycling centre” (Hertfordshire County Council). Before this year, only vans, trailers and visitors from outside the county needed a permit. Now every car does.

What the council says about it:

• It is free and available instantly after you apply online.
• It is tied to your vehicle registration and address. Anyone in your household can use it in that car.
• No booking. Turn up any time during opening hours. Number-plate cameras read it, so you do not need to print or show anything.
• A household can hold up to three: three car passes, or two car passes and one van or trailer pass.
• No ePass on the day? Staff will register you at the gate if you have proof of address with you. Without proof of address you will be sent away.
• Hire vans and courtesy cars can be registered too, for seven days, with the hire agreement.

Bring proof of address anyway. The Bishop’s Stortford page still asks for it: a driving licence, council tax bill, Hertfordshire bus pass or utility bill.

Essex residents

Bishop’s Stortford is on the county boundary, and plenty of people who shop in the town pay council tax in Uttlesford or Harlow. The county’s page says you can use this centre “if you pay your Council Tax to Hertfordshire or Essex councils”, but Essex residents need an ePass, and Essex and Cambridgeshire households are limited to one car ePass each (Hertfordshire County Council).

Christmas and New Year

Every Hertfordshire centre states the same rule: “We’re open on all bank holidays except Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.” Laid over this year’s calendar, that gives Bishop’s Stortford this pattern:

Two things to watch. Boxing Day falls on a Saturday, so the bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December. The council’s wording says the centres open on bank holidays except Boxing Day, and does not say which of the two days it means for Boxing Day this year. We will confirm it when the council publishes its festive hours. And Turnford is shut on Christmas Eve, because Christmas Eve is a Thursday, one of its normal closing days.

If you are clearing up after Christmas, Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 December are closed days at both Bishop’s Stortford and Hoddesdon. Ware is the only one of the four open every day that week except the bank holidays.

Christmas trees and wrapping

East Herts collects real Christmas trees only for garden waste subscribers, once collections restart after Christmas. Everyone else is pointed to the recycling centre, and last winter the district council said so in as many words: “Alternatively, you can take Christmas trees to your local Recycling Centre” (East Herts Council). Broken Christmas lights and artificial trees go to the centre too. The full Christmas collection changes are on our Christmas bin collections page, and your normal days are on bin collection days.

DIY waste: the limits and the new fees

This is where most people get turned away. The council accepts household DIY waste only in small amounts (Hertfordshire County Council):

• Free allowance: two 50-litre rubble bags, or one bulky item such as a bath, per week. You can bring up to four weeks’ worth in one trip, then nothing for four weeks.
• No trade waste. If a builder did the work and left the waste, it cannot go to the tip.
• Over the allowance you can now pay by card at the centre rather than being sent home:

The ePass is what makes this stick: the council says the system “will track DIY waste visits so people can’t exceed the free allowance by visiting multiple sites”.

Getting there

The entrance is on the Woodside Industrial Estate, off the A1250 Dunmow Road. Anything dug up on the approach will be on our roadworks and travel page. The county also runs a live queue camera and a bin-availability panel on the centre’s page, updated through the day, which is worth a look before a Saturday or Sunday run.

What is still to be confirmed

Hertfordshire has not yet published festive opening for 2026, including whether the centres open on Monday 28 December. This page will be updated in December when it does.