Stafford tip on St Albans Road opens daily; Stone's shuts Mondays and Tuesdays. Summer hours end 24 October, and every Staffordshire tip closed at Christmas.

Stafford Recycling Centre on St Albans Road is open every day, 9am to 6pm on weekdays and 9am to 5pm at weekends, until Saturday 24 October 2026. Stone’s, on Beacon Road, is closed every Monday and Tuesday. Both are run by Staffordshire County Council, need no booking for cars, and will close on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day if the county repeats last year’s arrangements. Here are the Stafford tip opening times for autumn, winter and Christmas, and Stone’s alongside.

The quick answer

  • Stafford (ST16 3DR): open 7 days, 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm weekends, until 24 October. Last winter it was 9am to 5pm every day.
  • Stone (ST15 0NN): closed Monday and Tuesday, open Wednesday to Sunday.
  • Christmas: last year every Staffordshire tip closed on 25 December, 26 December and 1 January, and closed at 3pm on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. The 2026 notice is not out yet.

Opening hours now

Both from the county’s own centre pages, checked on 25 September 2026. The summer timetable runs from 29 March to 24 October 2026.

Stafford, St Albans Road Stone, Beacon Road
Monday 9am to 6pm Closed
Tuesday 9am to 6pm Closed
Wednesday to Friday 9am to 6pm 9am to 6pm
Saturday and Sunday 9am to 5pm 9am to 5pm

Stone’s full address is Beacon Road / Opal Way, Stone Business Park, Aston, ST15 0NN.

Winter hours from 25 October

The county has not yet put its 2026/27 winter times on either page. What it published last winter is the best guide. The county’s page for Stafford, as archived in February 2026, showed 9am to 5pm every day of the week. Stone’s, as archived in March 2026, showed closed Monday and Tuesday, 9am to 5pm Wednesday to Sunday.

In both cases the change is to weekday closing, which comes forward an hour from 6pm to 5pm. Weekend hours stay the same. We will confirm the 2026 winter times when the county publishes them, which should be in late October.

Christmas and New Year

Last year the county’s opening times and bank holidays page, as it stood on 9 December 2025, said:

  • All recycling centres closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
  • Centres due to open would close at 3pm on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

If the same rule applies this year, the dates are:

Date Stafford Stone
Thursday 24 December Closes 3pm Closes 3pm
Friday 25 December Closed Closed
Saturday 26 December Closed Closed
Monday 28 December (bank holiday) Not stated last year Closed, it is a Monday
Thursday 31 December Closes 3pm Closes 3pm
Friday 1 January Closed Closed

Boxing Day falls on a Saturday in 2026, so the bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December. Last year’s notice did not mention the substitute day, because there was none. Stone is closed on Mondays anyway. For Stafford, check the county’s page before you go.

This year’s festive notice will be on the county’s recycling centre notices page, which carried nothing about Christmas when we checked on 25 September.

Real Christmas trees

Stafford Borough Council’s Christmas arrangements for 2025/26 gave three drop-off points for real trees between 5 and 12 January 2026, for anyone without a brown bin: Fletcher’s Garden Centre in Eccleshall (ST21 6JY), the Allotments car park in Gnosall and The Green recycling centre in Barlaston. Trees could also go to either tip. Brown bin subscribers could put trees in the bin cut into small pieces. The 2026/27 version of that page has not been published yet.

The same page reminded residents that wrapping paper cannot be recycled in Stafford borough and goes in the green bin, and that oversized cardboard should go to the tip, not beside the blue bin.

The rules that catch people out

From the county’s centre pages and its notices page on 25 September:

  • Cars need no permit and can visit as often as they like. A van, pick-up or trailer over 1.5 metres needs a van permit, which allows 12 visits a year.
  • No trade waste at any Staffordshire centre at the moment, because of capacity.
  • Wood: the county says it is “currently experiencing issues with wood waste”; check its wood and timber page before loading any.
  • Fridges and freezers are taken “when we can”, depending on storage space at each site.
  • Staff are not obliged to help lift heavy bags. Keep children and pets in the car.

The county’s contact centre for the tips is 0300 111 8000.

Kerbside collections move over Christmas too. Every round in the borough goes out a day early in Christmas week; the full table is on our Stafford bin collection days page. For the drive, check our roadworks and travel page.