No bins go out on Friday 25 December or Friday 1 January. Warwick District's 2026 table is not out yet, so here is last year's, plus trees and tip hours.
Warwick District Council has not yet published its Christmas and New Year collection dates for 2026. Its Christmas collections page still carries last year’s table when we checked it on 25 September.
The quick answer
- There will be no collections on Friday 25 December or Friday 1 January. The council’s rule is that bins are collected as normal on every bank holiday except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
- Last Christmas every round from Christmas Day onwards moved one day later, for two and a half weeks, and normal days came back on Monday 12 January.
- Real Christmas trees were collected free for two weeks in January, with no garden waste permit needed.
What is already settled for 2026
The council’s refuse collection page says collections go ahead as normal on all bank holidays except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, and that “some of your collections will change over Christmas due to this”.
The dates those three fall on this year come from GOV.UK’s bank holiday list:
- Christmas Day is Friday 25 December 2026
- Boxing Day is Saturday 26 December, and the bank holiday moves to a substitute Monday 28 December
- New Year’s Day is Friday 1 January 2027
So this year it is the Friday rounds that are hit first, twice. Whether the council treats Monday 28 December as a normal collection day, as it does other bank holidays, will only be clear when it publishes the table.
Last year’s changes, as a guide only
These are not this year’s dates. They are the 2025/26 changes the council still shows on its Christmas page, and they tell you the shape it uses. Christmas Day 2025 was a Thursday.
| Normal collection day | Moved to |
|---|---|
| Thursday 25 December 2025 | Saturday 27 December |
| Friday 26 December | Monday 29 December |
| Monday 29 December | Tuesday 30 December |
| Tuesday 30 December | Wednesday 31 December |
| Wednesday 31 December | Friday 2 January 2026 |
| Thursday 1 January 2026 | Saturday 3 January |
| Friday 2 January | Monday 5 January |
| Monday 5 January | Tuesday 6 January |
| Tuesday 6 January | Wednesday 7 January |
| Wednesday 7 January | Thursday 8 January |
| Thursday 8 January | Friday 9 January |
| Friday 9 January | Saturday 10 January |
Three things stand out from it:
- Collections before Christmas Day did not move. Monday 22 to Wednesday 24 December 2025 were not in the table.
- Saturdays were used to catch up. Crews worked on 27 December, 3 January and 10 January.
- The slip lasted until the second full week of January. Normal days resumed on Monday 12 January 2026.
The same table applied to grey bins, blue-lidded recycling and food waste. Bins had to be at the edge of the property by 6am on the new day.
Garden waste stopped for a fortnight. There were no green bin collections from Saturday 27 December 2025 to Thursday 8 January 2026, and they restarted on Friday 9 January. The break is built into the £51 subscription, so there is no refund for it.
Extra recycling and wrapping paper
The council’s Christmas page sets out the rules it applies every year:
- Wrapping paper and cards go in the blue-lidded bin. Foil or glittery wrapping paper, glittery cards, ribbons, bows and tape do not.
- Extra recycling is taken if it goes in a sturdy container or a red box beside the blue-lidded bin. Flatten cardboard or cut it into pieces no bigger than 1m by 1m.
- Nothing extra is taken beside the grey bin or the food caddy. Everything has to fit inside.
Christmas trees
Last year real trees were collected from 9 to 23 January 2026, and you did not need a garden waste permit. The council’s conditions were:
- take off all lights and decorations
- cut any tree over 5ft tall in half
- leave it outside where it does not block the road or pavement
Volunteers from Just Helping also collected trees between 9 and 11 January in return for a donation to The Myton Hospices. You can take a tree to either recycling centre as well.
The tips over Christmas
Both of the district’s recycling centres close early on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, but they treat the bank holidays differently. This is from the county council’s pages for Princes Drive and Cherry Orchard:
| Day | Princes Drive, Leamington CV31 3PH | Cherry Orchard, Kenilworth CV8 2SS |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 24 December | Closes 12.30pm | Closes 12.30pm |
| Friday 25 December | Closed | Closed |
| Saturday 26 December | Closed (Boxing Day) | Not listed as closed |
| Monday 28 December (bank holiday) | Not listed as closed | Closed |
| Thursday 31 December | Closes 12.30pm | Closes 12.30pm |
| Friday 1 January | Closed | Closed |
Two cautions. Princes Drive’s page names “Boxing Day” without saying whether it means Saturday 26 December or the substitute Monday, so check before driving over on either day. And Princes Drive now needs a booked slot at weekends, which will matter on the Saturday and Sunday after Christmas. Winter hours at both sites are 9.30am to 3.15pm on weekdays and 8.30am to 4.15pm at weekends.
More on both sites is on our bin collection days page.
Still to be confirmed
- The 2026/27 collection table. We will add it here as soon as the council publishes it, and we are checking its Christmas page from early November.
- The Christmas tree collection dates for January 2027.
- Whether Princes Drive closes on Saturday 26 or Monday 28 December.
To see your own address, use the council’s collection day checker or its app, which the council says will also flag bad weather changes.
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