Shropshire's 2026 Christmas bin dates are not out yet. Last year Christmas week rounds came up to two days early from 20 December. The full 2025 table is here.
Shropshire Council has not yet published its Christmas and New Year bin collection dates for 2026/27. We checked on 28 September: the council’s resident service portal shows each address’s collections only as far as the end of November, and the council newsroom carries nothing festive yet.
What the council has published, two years running, is a pattern. It is an unusual one, and it catches people out: in Shropshire the Christmas week rounds come early, not late.
The quick answer
- 2026 dates: not published yet. The council announced them on 2 December in 2024 and 16 December in 2025.
- Last year, Christmas week collections moved earlier, starting on the Saturday before Christmas. A Monday round was emptied two days early.
- No collections on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day in the 2025 schedule. Rounds returned to normal on the first Monday of January.
Last year’s table, and it is only a guide
These are the 2025/26 changes, from the calendar Shropshire Council published with its 16 December 2025 announcement. They are not this year’s dates. They are here because they show how the council and its contractor handle the fortnight.
| Usual collection day | Collected instead on |
|---|---|
| Monday 22 December 2025 | Saturday 20 December (earlier) |
| Tuesday 23 December 2025 | Monday 22 December (earlier) |
| Wednesday 24 December 2025 | Tuesday 23 December (earlier) |
| Thursday 25 December 2025 | Wednesday 24 December (earlier) |
| Friday 26 December 2025 | Saturday 27 December (later) |
| Monday 29 December 2025 | No change |
| Tuesday 30 December 2025 | No change |
| Wednesday 31 December 2025 | No change |
| Thursday 1 January 2026 | Friday 2 January (later) |
| Friday 2 January 2026 | Saturday 3 January (later) |
The council said changes ran from Saturday 20 December to Saturday 3 January, and that collections returned to normal on Monday 5 January 2026.
The year before followed the same outline. The council’s 2 December 2024 announcement said changes would begin on Saturday 21 December 2024, that “some collections will be made earlier than normal, some will be later than normal, and some will stay the same”, and that rounds would return to normal on Monday 6 January 2025.
Why this year cannot simply copy last year
The calendar falls differently in 2026. Christmas Day is a Friday, Boxing Day is a Saturday, and the Boxing Day bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December. New Year’s Day is a Friday (GOV.UK bank holidays).
Last year Christmas Day fell on a Thursday, so four weekday rounds could be pulled forward in a row. This year there are two Friday bank holidays and a Monday one. Which rounds move, and in which direction, is for the council to decide and it has not yet said.
The safe reading of the last two years is this: if your bin day falls in Christmas week, be ready for it to come before your usual day.
How you will be told
Three routes, going on the last two years:
- A printed calendar. In 2024 the council said Christmas collection calendars were delivered to every property from 2 December. In 2025 it again referred households to “the collection calendar that has been delivered to all properties”.
- The bin day finder at shropshire.gov.uk/binday, which shows the dates for your own address.
- The council newsroom, which carried the announcement in both years.
One warning. If you have subscribed to the council’s calendar feed on your phone, the council’s own portal says Christmas and New Year changes will not show up in it. Check the portal page itself in December. Our Shropshire bin collection days page explains the portal and what goes in which bin.
Christmas trees and garden waste
Real Christmas trees are taken only from households that pay for the garden waste service. The council’s 2024 announcement said people “must subscribe” to the garden waste service “if they want their real Christmas tree to be taken away”.
The subscription year runs from 1 November 2026 to 31 October 2027, and the council says sign-up opens on 1 October 2026 (Shropshire Council).
If you do not subscribe, a tree can go to any of the five household recycling centres, which accept garden waste. They are open 9am to 5pm every day except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. See Shropshire tip opening times.
Still to be confirmed
- The 2026/27 revised collection days. Going on the last two years, expect them in the first half of December.
- Whether Saturday 19 December is used as a collection day, as the Saturday before Christmas was in 2024 and 2025.
We will replace last year’s table with this year’s as soon as the council publishes it.
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