Bournemouth Christmas Bins 2026: No Collections on 3 Days

BCP Council does not collect bins on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day, and every collection from Christmas Day onwards moves to a later date until the round catches up in mid January. The 2026 dates are not published yet. Last year the council announced them on 5 December.

The quick answer

• No collections on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day. That was the rule last Christmas, and it is the only time of year BCP stops (BCP Council, festive bin collections changes)
• Last year’s catch-up ran from 29 December to Saturday 17 January, with each normal day moved to a set replacement day
• The 2026 table is not out yet. Last year’s was published on Friday 5 December 2025, so expect this year’s in early December

This year’s calendar is a different shape

Christmas Day 2026 is a Friday. Boxing Day falls on a Saturday, so the bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December, and New Year’s Day 2027 is also a Friday (GOV.UK, bank holidays).

Last year Christmas Day was a Thursday. So the dates in the table below will not simply repeat. What should carry over is the pattern: the three named days are lost, and everything after them slides back until the round catches up.

BCP collects on ordinary bank holidays, so the Monday 28 December substitute day may well be a working day for the crews. The council has not said so for this year. We will check the moment the 2026 list is out.

Last year’s revised dates

These are the 2025/26 dates, not this year’s. They are here because they show how far the knock-on runs: a household on a Friday round last year was not back to its normal day until 16 January.

Collections before Christmas Day ran as normal. The table covered rubbish, recycling and food waste alike, and the council asked for bins to be out by 5am on the revised day.

What else stopped last Christmas

• No extra bags. Crews would not take bags left beside or on top of a bin. Extra rubbish had to go to a recycling centre
• Skips, bin deliveries and bulky waste collections did not run over the period
• Commercial waste was not collected on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day, with catch-ups on Boxing Day, Saturday 27 December and Saturday 3 January

All from the council’s festive bin collections notice for 2025/26.

The tips over Christmas

The three recycling centres, at Millhams in Longham, Wilverley Road in Christchurch and Nuffield in Poole, run 9am to 4pm in winter. Last Christmas they shut at 1pm on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve and closed all day on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

Hours, ID rules and charges for all three are on our Bournemouth tip opening times page.

Christmas trees

Last year the council offered three routes for a real tree:

• Take it to any recycling centre, where it is composted
• Book a charity collection. The council named Diverse Abilities, Julia’s House and Lewis-Manning Hospice Care as charities that collect in many areas for a small donation, and said to book early
• Cut it up for the garden waste bin, if you subscribe. The first garden collection of the new year came at the end of January

Still to be confirmed

• The 2026/27 revised collection table, expected in early December
• Whether crews work the Monday 28 December bank holiday
• Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve closing times at the recycling centres

We will update this page when BCP publishes. Your normal collection day is on the council’s check your bin day finder, and the rest of the year’s rules are on our Bournemouth bin days page.

Also on this site

• Bournemouth tip opening times
• Bournemouth Christmas travel
• Parking in Bournemouth
• Bournemouth roadworks and travel

Sources: BCP Council, festive bin collections changes, 5 December 2025; GOV.UK, UK bank holidays. Checked 25 September 2026.