Ashford's tip at Cobbs Wood opens 8am to 4.30pm Monday to Saturday and 9am to 4pm Sunday. You must book a slot first. DIY limits, charges and Christmas.
Ashford’s tip is the Kent County Council household waste recycling centre on the Cobbs Wood Industrial Estate, Brunswick Road, TN23 1EL. It is open seven days a week, but you cannot simply turn up: every visit needs a booked slot, and the council’s page for the site says plainly that “entry without booking is not permitted”.
Every detail below was read on 25 September 2026 from Kent County Council’s own pages, linked beside each one.
The quick answer
Ashford tip is open 8am to 4.30pm, Monday to Saturday, and 9am to 4pm on Sunday. You must book a slot online before you go, on the same day or up to two weeks ahead, and there is no limit on how many times you visit in a day. Kent has not yet published its Christmas 2026 hours; they go on the centre’s own page.
Opening hours
| Day | Open |
|---|---|
| Monday to Saturday | 8am to 4.30pm |
| Sunday | 9am to 4pm |
Source: Kent County Council, Ashford Household Waste Recycling Centre.
One small difference from its neighbours: the Maidstone and New Romney centre pages both carry a line reading “Bank holidays: 9am to 4pm”. The Ashford page carries no bank holiday line at all. If you plan a bank holiday trip, the booking system will show whether slots exist that day.
How to book
Kent’s booking page sets the rules:
- Book on the same day or up to two weeks in advance.
- There is no limit on the number of visits in a day.
- The booking system was changed recently: there is no customer account any more.
- If you cannot use the online system, call 03000 41 73 73, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
- Bring your booking reference, on your phone, handwritten or printed, and your vehicle voucher if your vehicle needs one.
The council also asks you to sort your load before you arrive, grouping electricals, paper and textiles together.
Height barrier, vans and trailers
The Ashford site has a height barrier of 2 metres (6 foot 6 inches). Some vehicles need a voucher to get in, and Kent’s vehicle restrictions page says it is “moving to digital permits for restricted vehicles in November”. Anyone approved now receives up to six paper vouchers, and paper vouchers will still be accepted “for a while” after the switch.
You cannot carry waste into the site on foot, and children must stay in the car. Before a big run, check Ashford roadworks and travel, and our parking in Ashford page if you are combining the trip with town.
What is free and what you pay for
Household waste is free for Kent council tax payers. DIY waste is free up to a limit, which Kent’s charges page sets as:
- 4 visits in 4 weeks with DIY waste, and
- per visit, 1 large item (up to 200cm by 75cm) or 2 standard black bags of 50 litres each.
Within the limit you can bring rubble, soil, bricks, paving slabs, tiles, plasterboard (one sheet counts as one black bag) and ceramic bathroom items such as baths, sinks and toilet pans. There is no limit on plastic kitchen units, non-ceramic sinks, baths and doors. Tyres, and DIY waste over the limit, are charged, and the council takes payment by debit or credit card only: no cash, no cheques.
Non-Kent residents pay £10 a visit, and that includes people from Medway. Business waste is not accepted.
Fridges and freezers
On 30 July 2026 Kent asked residents to hold on to fridges and freezers for now if they are safe to keep, because “fridge and freezer recycling is currently under pressure across the UK”. The notice is still at the top of its booking page.
The nearest alternatives
Kent runs 19 centres. The nearest to the south of the borough is New Romney, on Mountfield Road, TN28 8LH, with the same hours as Ashford and a reuse shop you can browse without booking (Kent County Council). To the west, Maidstone is at Burial Ground, Tovil, ME15 6RJ, also 8am to 4.30pm and 9am to 4pm on Sunday (Kent County Council). Kent residents can no longer use Medway’s Capstone, Cuxton and Hoath Way sites.
For things too big for the car, Ashford Borough Council runs a paid bulky waste collection; the price and the booking route are on our bin collection days page.
Christmas and New Year
Kent County Council has not yet published festive hours for 2026. Last Christmas its Christmas and New Year services page (archived 12 December 2025) told residents to “check the opening times for your nearest household waste recycling centre over the festive period”, so the hours go on each centre’s own page rather than in a single list. We will add them here as soon as they appear.
Christmas also moves the bins: Ashford Borough Council’s revised rounds last year ran up to two working days late and did not return to normal until 12 January. The full table is on our bin collection days page. If you are heading anywhere by rail over the holiday, see the Christmas trains page.
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