Stratford Christmas Bin Collections 2026: Dates Due December

Stratford-on-Avon District Council has not yet published its Christmas and New Year 2026/27 bin collection dates. We checked its news list and its Christmas collections page on 25 September, and both still carry last year’s arrangements. The council put last year’s notice out on 5 December 2025, and the year before on 9 December 2024, so expect this year’s in the first fortnight of December.

Two things are already fixed. Christmas Day is a Friday this year, so the Boxing Day bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December, and New Year’s Day is also a Friday. That is the same shape as the year the council last had to shunt every collection day by one or two days, and it means the catch-up will probably run into the second week of January again.

The quick answer

• 2026/27 dates are not published yet. The council released last year’s on 5 December, and the year before on 9 December. This page will be updated the day they appear.
• Last year every collection from Christmas Day onwards moved by one to three days, and normal rounds only returned on Monday 12 January 2026.
• Garden waste stops for two weeks over Christmas and New Year, and the council collected real Christmas trees from the kerb between 9 and 23 January, no subscription needed.

What is confirmed for this Christmas

• The bank holidays. Friday 25 December (Christmas Day), Monday 28 December (Boxing Day substitute) and Friday 1 January 2027 (New Year’s Day) (GOV.UK).
• Garden waste is suspended for two weeks. The council’s garden waste page says collections stop over Christmas and New Year, with the exact dates posted on its website and on bin tags. The £50 subscription runs to 31 March 2027 (Stratford-on-Avon District Council, garden waste).
• Bins out by 6am on the revised day. The council repeats this rule in every festive notice, because revised days are worked by crews starting early and running long (Christmas collections 2025/26).
• Three of the district’s four recycling centres shut on every bank holiday, and Burton Farm closes at 12.30pm on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. The full winter hours are on our tip opening times page.

Your normal pattern does not change: grey bin every three weeks, blue-lidded recycling every two, food every week. If you are not sure which week you are in, our bin collection days page explains how to look it up.

Last year’s revised dates, as a guide only

These are not this year’s dates. They are the council’s 2025/26 arrangements, published on 5 December 2025 (Refuse and recycling collections for Christmas and New Year, 5 December 2025). Christmas Day fell on a Thursday, so the pattern shifted by up to three days. This year it falls on a Friday, so the shifts will differ.

Collections returned to normal from Monday 12 January 2026. Collections due on Monday 22, Tuesday 23 and Wednesday 24 December were not changed.

The year before, with Christmas Day on a Wednesday, the council moved seven collection days by one to three days each and returned to normal on Monday 13 January 2025 (Christmas and New Year collections, 9 December 2024). The two years together show the habit: no collections on the three bank holidays, every later round pushed back, Saturday working to catch up, and a full return only in the second week of January.

Garden waste over Christmas

The green-lidded bin service stops for two weeks every year. Last year there were no garden waste collections from Saturday 27 December 2025 to Thursday 8 January 2026 inclusive, restarting on Friday 9 January. The year before it was Friday 27 December 2024 to Thursday 9 January 2025 (2025/26 page; 2024/25 notice). The break starts the day after Boxing Day both years, so plan for no green bin from Sunday 27 December 2026 until about Friday 8 January 2027, subject to the council’s notice.

Missed collections reported during the suspension are not returned to. If you have extra recycling, the council asks you to put it in a box or rigid container beside your blue-lidded bin.

Real Christmas trees

Last January the district council collected real trees from outside homes between 9 and 23 January 2026 inclusive, and you did not need a garden waste subscription. The rules were: all lights and decorations removed, any tree over five feet cut in half, and the tree left outside where it does not obstruct the highway (Christmas collections 2025/26). Subscribers can also chop the tree into the green bin once collections resume, and any of the four recycling centres will take a tree. The same council page listed a landscaping firm offering donation-based pick-ups in CV35, CV36 and CV37 in the first week of January, which is worth checking for again once the 2027 page goes up.

Still to be confirmed

• The 2026/27 revised collection days. Expected in the first fortnight of December from the council’s news page.
• The exact garden waste suspension dates and whether the January tree collection runs again.
• Whether Burton Farm closes on Saturday 26 December or the substitute bank holiday, Monday 28 December. Warwickshire County Council’s page says “Boxing Day”, which is a Saturday this year. See the tip opening times page.

If you are driving a Christmas load to the tip, the roadworks and travel page has the closures in force that week, and parking in Stratford covers the town car parks.