Market Harborough tip opens Thursday to Saturday, 9am to 4pm from October to March. Kibworth covers Sunday to Wednesday. Christmas closures and permit rules.
Market Harborough’s tip on Riverside opens on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays only. From 1 October to 31 March the hours are 9am to 4pm, and the last car is let in five minutes before closing. On the other four days of the week, Kibworth is the site that is open: it runs Sunday to Wednesday.
All three tips serving the district are run by Leicestershire County Council, not by Harborough District Council.
The quick answer
- Market Harborough (Riverside, LE16 7PT): Thursday to Saturday, 9am to 4pm in autumn and winter. Closed Sunday to Wednesday.
- Kibworth (LE8 0EX): Sunday to Wednesday, 9am to 4pm. Closed Thursday to Saturday.
- Christmas: every county tip closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day last year. On this year’s calendar that leaves Market Harborough with no open day in Christmas week.
Opening times from October to March
| Site | Address | Open | Closed | Quietest day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Market Harborough | Riverside, LE16 7PT | Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 9am to 4pm | Sunday to Wednesday | Friday |
| Kibworth | Kibworth, LE8 0EX | Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 9am to 4pm | Thursday to Saturday | Wednesday |
| Lutterworth | Moorbarns Lane, LE17 4QJ | Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 9am to 4pm (temporary) | Sunday to Wednesday for now | Monday, when open |
The Market Harborough and Kibworth hours are the ones the county’s own site pages showed through last winter, in January and February 2026. Its summer hours at Market Harborough, from April, were Thursday and Friday 9am to 7pm and Saturday 9am to 5pm. (Market Harborough site and Kibworth site, Leicestershire County Council, archived 14 January, 8 February and 20 May 2026)
The county’s opening days leaflet sets the 9am to 4pm winter hours at every site from 1 October to 31 March. (Opening days at recycling and household waste sites, Leicestershire County Council)
Lutterworth is running a reduced week. It reopened on Thursday 3 September after a four-week closure and is open Thursday to Saturday only, with Sundays and Mondays “temporarily closed” and no date given for restoring them. Last winter it opened five days, Monday and Thursday to Sunday. (Leicestershire County Council, 28 August 2026) Our story Lutterworth tip reopens on three days a week has the background.
One caution. Leicestershire’s website blocks automated requests, so we could not re-read the live site pages on 25 September. If you are driving a long way, ring the county on 0116 305 0001 or check its site in a browser first.
Christmas and New Year
In both of the last two years the county closed all of its recycling and household waste sites on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, in addition to each site’s normal closed days. It warned that the days after Boxing Day and into the New Year are “extremely busy” at every site. (Leicestershire County Council, 15 December 2025; 9 December 2024)
The county has not announced its 2026 arrangements yet; last year’s notice came out on 15 December. If it repeats the same four closures, this is how Christmas 2026 falls.
| Date | Market Harborough | Kibworth |
|---|---|---|
| Sat 19 Dec | Open | Closed (normal day off) |
| Sun 20 to Wed 23 Dec | Closed (normal days off) | Open |
| Thu 24 Dec, Christmas Eve | Closed | Closed |
| Fri 25 Dec, Christmas Day | Closed | Closed |
| Sat 26 Dec, Boxing Day | Closed | Closed |
| Sun 27 to Wed 30 Dec | Closed (normal days off) | Open, but check Mon 28 Dec, the substitute bank holiday |
| Thu 31 Dec | Open | Closed (normal day off) |
| Fri 1 Jan, New Year's Day | Closed | Closed |
| Sat 2 Jan | Open | Closed (normal day off) |
So the last chance to clear the house at Market Harborough before Christmas is likely to be Saturday 19 December, and the first after it Thursday 31 December. Kibworth is the only one of the three likely to be open between Christmas and New Year. The county’s notice names Boxing Day itself, which this year is a Saturday; it has not said how it treats the substitute bank holiday on Monday 28 December, so check before you go.
The rules that catch people out
These apply at all three sites. (Market Harborough site page, Leicestershire County Council)
- Vans need a permit. Vans, pick-ups, cars towing a trailer, and any vehicle bringing asbestos, chemicals or liquid paint must have a waste permit.
- No vehicle over 3.5 tonnes and no trailer longer than 3 metres.
- No pedestrians. You have to arrive in a vehicle.
- Card only. Some non-household waste, such as hardcore, soil and flat glass, is charged, and the site takes debit or credit cards, not cash or cheques.
- You unload it yourself. The county says it cannot guarantee staff can help.
- Market Harborough does not take tyres, gas bottles that are still sealed, liquid paint or business waste. Business waste goes to Whetstone.
Your bins over Christmas
Harborough District Council, not the county, empties your bins. It has not published its Christmas 2026 collection changes yet. We have what happened in previous years, and who is likely to be affected, on our Christmas bin collections page.
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