Wokingham Tip Opening Times: 8am to 6pm Winter, Book First

Wokingham borough has no household recycling centre of its own. Residents use the two re3 sites, Smallmead in Reading and Longshot Lane in Bracknell, run by FCC Environment for Wokingham, Reading and Bracknell Forest councils together. Both keep the same hours, both need a booked slot, and both are on the same festive closure list. This page has the times, the booking rule, what you must bring, what costs money, and the review of opening hours that is now under way.

The quick answer

Both tips open 8am to 6pm, seven days a week, from 1 October to 31 March, and 8am to 8pm from April to September. They close at 4pm on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve and are shut on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. You must book a 30-minute slot before you go, up to seven days ahead, and bring proof of address issued in the last four months. Nearest for most of the borough: Longshot Lane, Bracknell RG12 1RL for Wokingham town, Finchampstead and Crowthorne; Smallmead, Island Road, Reading RG2 0RP for Earley, Woodley, Winnersh, Shinfield and Twyford.

Opening times

Source: re3 site facilities. Winter hours start on Thursday 1 October 2026, so the last 8pm evening of the year is Wednesday 30 September. The Boxing Day closure is the day itself, Saturday 26 December; the substitute bank holiday on Monday 28 December is not on re3’s closure list, so on the published rule the sites are open that day.

Both sites have a live queue camera on the re3 page, labelled “Are we busy?”, which is worth a look before a weekend slot.

Booking: the rule that turns people away

Access is by the Click and Tip booking system and nothing else. From re3’s own terms:

• Book a 30-minute slot, up to seven days in advance, and arrive inside it. Arrive late and staff may send you home to rebook.
• One booking per visit, but there is no limit on how many bookings you make.
• You give your name, email, postal address and vehicle type. Your name and reference number are checked on the gate; a screenshot, printout or handwritten note is fine.
• Go to the site you booked. A Smallmead booking does not get you into Longshot Lane.
• Bookings can be made for someone else, and by phone through re3’s customer service team or the council.
• Children under 16 stay in the vehicle.

Book at re3 site facilities, or through the council’s find your local recycling centre page.

Proof you live here

You need a document showing you live in Wokingham, Reading or Bracknell Forest, issued no more than four months before the visit. re3 accepts a driving licence, current council tax bill, utility bill, bank or credit card statement, a photocard bus pass or blue badge or resident parking permit issued by one of the three councils, or a Bracknell Forest E+ card. University of Reading students without one of those can show a campus card. Electronic originals are accepted; photos of documents and email confirmations are not. For DIY waste the proof must show your full address (re3 site facilities).

Vans and commercial-type vehicles

A commercial vehicle permit is needed for anything with no rear side windows, no rear seats, an open back, a body separate from the cab, or that is designed to carry goods. Hired and borrowed vans count. The permit is applied for inside the booking process. Box vans are not allowed on either site at all. Disability-adapted vehicles do not need a permit.

What costs money

Household waste is free. Small amounts of DIY waste are free within an allowance, and above it re3 charges per unit, card only, no cash. The October 2025 price list has almost everything at £3.20 per 25-litre bag or per item: rubble, soil, tiles, plasterboard is the exception at £1.60 a bag, baths, toilets, doors, windows, fence panels, radiators, sheet glass and turf. Timber items are priced per 200 by 75 centimetre length (re3 DIY waste charges, October 2025).

Both sites have a reuse area where items still fit for use can be left for Sue Ryder, and both now take back unwanted health and social care equipment supplied by Millbrook Healthcare or NRS Healthcare, clean and with its identification sticker on (re3 news).

The hours are under review

Bracknell Forest Council confirmed on 23 September 2026 that it is reviewing opening hours at the recycling centres as part of the re3 strategy for 2026 to 2031, after trials over the summer to measure how busy each site is. Its cabinet member for the environment, Cllr Ryan Frost, said the November 2025 re3 consultation found residents open to changed hours if that eased financial pressures, and that the trial findings would inform any change. No new hours have been proposed and no decision date has been given. The consultation itself, run by re3 for all three councils, closed on 14 December 2025 (re3, 3 November 2025). Wokingham residents use both sites, so a change at either matters here.

Alternatives to a tip run

• Bulky items can be collected by the council for a fee through its bulky waste service.
• Garden waste goes in the subscription brown bin, £99 a year, or in brown sacks bought from the council (garden waste).
• Glass goes to bottle banks; there is no kerbside glass collection in the borough until 2027 at the earliest (recycling).
• Batteries and used vapes are accepted in the green kerbside bags as well as at the tips.

Still to be confirmed

• Any change to opening hours from the Bracknell Forest and re3 review. No proposal has been published; this page will be updated when one is.
• Whether the sites open on Monday 28 December 2026, the substitute Boxing Day bank holiday. re3’s published rule closes them on 25 and 26 December and 1 January only.

Related: bin collection days, Christmas bin collections, parking in Wokingham.