Kingston has not published its Christmas 2026 bin dates. Last time every round slipped one to three days and normal service took until 13 January. Details.
The Royal Borough of Kingston has not yet published its Christmas and New Year bin collection dates for 2026/27. We checked the council’s website on 25 September. What it does say, on its collection day page, is that bins are collected as normal on every bank holiday except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
The quick answer
- No 2026 Christmas timetable yet. The council’s standing rule is no collections on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day.
- Last time, every round slipped by one to three days, and normal collections did not return until Monday 13 January.
- Real Christmas trees were collected from the first Monday in January, within a fortnight, if they were out by 6am.
Why this Christmas is awkward
Christmas Day 2026 is a Friday. Boxing Day falls on Saturday 26 December, so the bank holiday moves to a substitute Monday 28 December. New Year’s Day is Friday 1 January 2027. All three dates are on GOV.UK’s bank holiday list.
That leaves one open question the council has not answered. Its rule names “Boxing Day”, but this year Boxing Day is a Saturday and the bank holiday is the Monday after. Whether Monday 28 December rounds go ahead is exactly what the 2026 timetable will need to settle. Until it is published, do not assume either way.
Last year’s pattern, and it is only a guide
The most recent festive timetable on the council’s website is a leaflet for Christmas 2024 and New Year 2025 (Christmas collections and tree collections, PDF). We could not find a 2025/26 version on the council’s site. These are not this year’s dates. They show the shape the council used.
| Usual collection day | Revised collection day | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday 25 December | Friday 27 December | 2 days later |
| Thursday 26 December | Saturday 28 December | 2 days later |
| Friday 27 December | Monday 30 December | 3 days later |
| Monday 30 December | Tuesday 31 December | 1 day later |
| Tuesday 31 December | Thursday 2 January | 2 days later |
| Wednesday 1 January | Friday 3 January | 2 days later |
| Thursday 2 January | Saturday 4 January | 2 days later |
| Friday 3 January | Monday 6 January | 3 days later |
| Monday 6 January | Tuesday 7 January | 1 day later |
| Tuesday 7 January | Wednesday 8 January | 1 day later |
| Wednesday 8 January | Thursday 9 January | 1 day later |
| Thursday 9 January | Friday 10 January | 1 day later |
| Friday 10 January | Saturday 11 January | 1 day later |
The leaflet listed no change before Christmas Day. Crews worked three Saturdays to catch up, and the leaflet said collections returned to normal from Monday 13 January 2025. Bins had to be out by 6.30am on the revised day.
In 2024 Christmas Day fell on a Wednesday. This year it falls on a Friday, so the 2026 dates will not simply move along by a year. Treat the table as the pattern, not a prediction.
Christmas tree collection
The same leaflet set out the tree service, and it is the part people ask about most in January:
- put a real tree out by 6am on Monday 6 January 2025 and it would be collected within a fortnight
- remove all decorations and pots
- leave it close to your front boundary, visible to crews and not blocking the pavement; flats put trees outside the bin store without blocking access
The alternatives the council listed were taking the tree to the tip to be composted, leaving it next to your rubbish bin on collection day (in which case it will not be recycled), or chopping it up for a garden compost heap or wildlife shelter.
The tip over Christmas
The Villiers Road recycling centre, 20 Chapel Mill Road, KT1 3GZ, is closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, according to its booking page. In 2024 it also closed at midday on Christmas Eve, per the leaflet above. Visits by car must be booked in advance, and you get 20 bookings a calendar year. Full hours and rules are on our Kingston bin collection days page.
Garden waste
The council’s garden waste terms say only that collections over Christmas and New Year “might take place later than usual”, and that changes will be communicated to subscribers. Nothing more specific has been published for 2026.
When the 2026 dates should appear
Kingston’s 2024/25 leaflet is still the only festive timetable on its site, so there is no reliable publishing date to go on. We will check again at the start of November and update this page the day the council posts the 2026 timetable. Your own round is on the council’s bin day lookup.
Related: Kingston bin collection days, Kingston Christmas trains and travel, parking in Kingston and Kingston roadworks and travel.
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