Warrington's Christmas week bins go out a day early, 21 to 24 December. Friday rounds lose Christmas Day and New Year's Day and get Saturday 2 January instead.
Warrington Borough Council has already fixed its Christmas 2026 bin dates. They are printed on the council’s own 2026/27 collection calendars, and the rule is simpler than most years: in Christmas week every collection moves one day earlier, and only Friday rounds change in New Year week, when they move to Saturday 2 January.
The quick answer
- Christmas week, 21 to 24 December: Tuesday rounds are collected on Monday 21 December, Wednesday rounds on Tuesday 22, Thursday rounds on Wednesday 23 and Friday rounds on Thursday 24 December. That covers the food caddy and whichever wheelie bin is due that week.
- New Year week: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday rounds are unchanged. Friday rounds move to Saturday 2 January 2027.
- Put bins out by 6.30am on the new day, lids closed, as on any collection day.
- All three recycling centres are closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day and open normal hours on every other day.
Everything on this page was read from the ten collection calendars the council publishes on its bin day page and from its three recycling centre pages, on 25 September 2026.
Why this Christmas is awkward
Christmas Day 2026 is a Friday, and so is New Year’s Day 2027. Warrington runs its rounds from Tuesday to Friday, so the Friday crews lose two working days in eight. The substitute Boxing Day bank holiday on Monday 28 December costs nothing, because there are no Monday rounds to lose (GOV.UK bank holidays).
The council’s answer is to run the whole of Christmas week a day early, which clears everything before the holiday starts, and then to give the Friday crews a Saturday in the new year. That is the opposite of the “a day late” pattern many councils use, and it is the reason caddies and bins get missed here: people put them out on the usual day and the wagon has already been.
Christmas week: every round a day early
The council prints one calendar for each round. The four “Week 1” and “Week 2” versions of each weekday carry the same festive dates, so the day you are on is all that matters. The alternate-week pattern (black one week, blue the next) carries on as normal, just a day early.
| Your usual collection day | Collected on | What is collected |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | Monday 21 December 2026 | Food caddy plus the bin due that week |
| Wednesday | Tuesday 22 December 2026 | Food caddy plus the bin due that week |
| Thursday | Wednesday 23 December 2026 | Food caddy plus the bin due that week |
| Friday | Thursday 24 December 2026 | Food caddy plus the bin due that week |
Which wheelie bin is due depends on whether you are a Week 1 or Week 2 household. On the Friday calendars, for instance, Week 1 homes have their blue bin emptied on Thursday 24 December and Week 2 homes their black bin. The bin day checker tells you which week you are on once you enter a postcode, and the calendar download on the same page is colour coded day by day.
New Year week: only Fridays move
| Your usual collection day | Collected on |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | Tuesday 29 December 2026, no change |
| Wednesday | Wednesday 30 December 2026, no change |
| Thursday | Thursday 31 December 2026, no change |
| Friday | Saturday 2 January 2027, instead of Friday 1 January |
The Friday calendars spell this out in a red box: “Food waste collection on Thursday 24 December 2026 and Saturday 2 January 2027”. The wheelie bin due that week is marked on the same Saturday. From Tuesday 5 January 2027 every round is back to normal.
The green bin stops for the winter
Garden waste is the paid green bin here, and it has a winter break. On the calendars we checked the last green collections printed for 2026 fall between 24 November and 4 December, depending on the round, and no green collection is printed for December, January or February. Real Christmas trees cannot go in the black or blue bin: all three recycling centres accept “grass / garden waste”, so a tree can go to Gatewarth, Woolston or Stockton Heath once the sites reopen after New Year’s Day. The full rules on the garden waste subscription, which cost £43.50 for 2026, are on our Warrington bin collection days page.
Recycling centres over Christmas
The council’s three centres close for three days only.
| Centre | Normal winter hours | Closed |
|---|---|---|
| Gatewarth, Barnard Street, WA5 1DD | 8am to 6pm every day | 25, 26 December and 1 January |
| Woolston, New Cut Lane, WA1 4AG | 10am to 4pm weekdays, 8am to 6pm weekends and bank holidays | 25, 26 December and 1 January |
| Stockton Heath, Sandy Lane, WA4 2AY | 10am to 4pm every day, October to March | 25, 26 December and 1 January |
Monday 28 December is a bank holiday, so Woolston runs its longer 8am to 6pm bank holiday hours that day. Cardboard mountains after Christmas are the usual reason for a trip: flatten it, and if you are taking a van or trailer to Gatewarth or Woolston you may need a free permit first. Hours, permits and what each site takes are on our Warrington tip opening times page.
If your bin is missed
The council asks you to report a missed bin through its missed bin form. Its bad weather rule applies in winter: the calendars say that during periods of bad weather you should check warrington.gov.uk and its social channels for updates, rather than assume a cancelled round will be rescheduled automatically.
Still to be confirmed
The dates above come from calendars the council published for the whole 2026/27 year, so they are as firm as the council ever makes them. What the council has not yet published is any Christmas tree collection scheme or any change to bulky collections, which run on Mondays and would fall on the 28 December bank holiday. We will check the council’s bins pages again in the first week of December and update this page.
Sources: Warrington Borough Council bin day page and 2026/27 collection calendars; Gatewarth, Woolston and Stockton Heath recycling centre pages; GOV.UK bank holidays. Checked 25 September 2026.
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