With Christmas fast approaching, we wanted to let you ‘snow’ about the waste and recycling services which will be available over the festive season. Please reduce and recycle as much of your waste as possible – we’re dreaming of a green Christmas!

Waste and recycling collections

Our Waste and Recycling crews will be out collecting as normal for the majority of the festive season, with only collections falling on Boxing Day (26 December) affected by changes to the usual collection schedule.

If your usual waste and recycling collection falls on Monday, 26 December please put your waste and recycling out by 6.30am on Tuesday, 27 December instead and leave out until collected. Our crews will be working hard to complete these collections by Friday, 30 December.

There will also be no collections of blue bags on Monday, 26 December but instead, there will be a double collection (up to four bags) on Monday, 2 January.

All other waste and recycling collections are scheduled to go ahead as normal.

As usual, please put your waste and recycling out, including food waste and clinical waste (if you receive these collections), by 6.30am on your collection day. Remind yourself of your collection day.

Recycle more, waste less this Christmas

The majority of rubbish produced during the festive period is recyclable, so please keep your general rubbish to a minimum and recycle as much as possible. We'll have additional resources in place to cope with the extra material but it will help crews to complete collections more efficiently if recycling is sorted into:

• Paper and card in one box – covered with a lid to keep it dry
• Clean tins, cans, foil, glass bottles, glass jars and aerosols into a second box

If you have any extra recycling that won’t fit in your recycling boxes, sturdy containers from around the home can be used to put additional recycling out on your collection days throughout January. The containers don't need to be council-branded but they should be of a similar size (not larger) than the normal recycling boxes and must be able to be lifted safely.

Please don't place glass or cans into cardboard boxes for collection as they won't be collected. All plastic or polystyrene packaging should be removed from cardboard boxes and large boxes should be broken down into manageable pieces. 

Large amounts of cardboard, neatly folded and bundled, can be placed next to your boxes for collection – this may be collected by a second vehicle at a different time to the recycling box.

The crews won't be collecting additional non-recyclable waste.

Household Waste Recycling Centre

The Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) will be closed on the following days:

• Sunday, 25 December 
• Monday, 26 December 
• Tuesday, 27 December
•  Wednesday, 28 December 
• Sunday, 1 January 
• Monday, 2 January

Normal opening hours will resume on Tuesday, 3 January. Book a slot.

Christmas tree recycling

Once again we'll be offering a free recycling collection for real (not artificial) Christmas trees. This year you'll need to request a collection, unless you have a garden waste subscription.

How do I get my Christmas tree collected?

• If you're a garden waste subscriber, please place your tree next to your green bin for collection on your scheduled collection day between Monday, 9 January and Friday, 3 February.
• If you don’t have a garden waste subscription, you’ll need to request a tree collection by 13 January via our website. A link will be made available on this page in the next few weeks. The Garden Waste crews will collect your tree when they’re in the area between 23 January and 3 February - once you complete the form, we’ll let you know when we’ll collect your tree.

Trees must be put out at the front of the property, so they're clearly visible from the road. All lights and decorations must be removed, and trees must be able to be safely lifted by two people. If the tree is very large, please cut it into manageable pieces.

Garden waste

Our Garden Waste service will be suspended for the usual two-week period from Monday, 26 December while the crews concentrate on collecting all the additional waste created over the Christmas period. Garden waste collections will resume on Monday, 9 January.

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