Medway Christmas Bin Collections 2026: What to Expect

Medway Council has not yet published its Christmas and New Year bin collection dates for 2026/27. Its 2025/26 festive page has already been taken down, so anyone searching the council website today finds nothing at all. This page sets out exactly what the council did last year, when it published it, and what this year’s bank holidays mean for the rounds.

The quick answer

• 2026 dates: not published yet. Last year’s page was live on the council website by 1 December 2025. Expect this year’s in the first days of December.
• Last Christmas, the only rounds that moved were Christmas Day and Boxing Day, to the Saturday and the following Monday. Every collection after that ran one day late until Saturday 10 January, and everything was back to normal from Monday 12 January.
• Brown bins and bulky collections stopped for over three weeks, from Friday 19 December 2025 to Monday 12 January 2026. Real Christmas trees went out next to the brown bin from 12 January.

What the council did last Christmas

The council’s page for the 2025 to 2026 festive period is no longer on its website (the address now returns a “page not found”), but a copy was archived by the Wayback Machine on 10 December 2025 and the earliest capture is dated 1 December 2025 (Medway Council, archived 10 December 2025). These are last year’s dates, not this year’s. They are here because the shape repeats.

Three things about that table are worth holding on to. The three collection days before Christmas did not move. The knock-on from two bank holidays lasted a full two working weeks. And the catch-up used two Saturdays, 3 and 10 January, so the “weekly on the same day” rule that Medway residents rely on (our bin collection days page explains it) did not hold for a fortnight.

The council also said it could not return for individual missed collections over the New Year period: if the crew did not come, the instruction was to bring the waste back inside until the next collection day. Sacks and bags had to be out by 7am because crews worked until dusk. Snow, it added, could cancel services altogether, with updates on its Facebook page rather than the website.

Why 2026 could be worse than 2025

Last year Christmas Day fell on a Thursday. This year the bank holidays land differently: Christmas Day is Friday 25 December 2026, the Boxing Day bank holiday moves to a substitute day on Monday 28 December, and New Year’s Day is Friday 1 January 2027 (GOV.UK bank holidays). That is two Fridays and a Monday lost from the rounds instead of a Thursday, a Friday and a Thursday.

We are not going to guess the revised days. What the pattern says is that the Friday rounds are the ones most exposed, and that if the council follows the 2025 approach the catch-up will again run into the second week of January. When the council publishes, this page will carry the dates.

Brown bins, bulky items and Christmas trees

Last year there were no brown bin (food and garden waste) collections and no bulky item collections from Friday 19 December 2025 until Monday 12 January 2026, a pause of more than three weeks. The council’s suggestion for the gap was caddy liners: 26 for £2.50 from a library, or click and collect online.

Real Christmas trees were collected from Monday 12 January 2026, put out next to the brown bin on the normal collection day. Nothing on the council’s current pages suggests the 2026/27 arrangement will differ, but it has not been published.

What goes in which bag over Christmas

The council’s festive page repeated its year-round rules with a Christmas slant, and these do not change from year to year:

• Blue bag (paper and card): greetings cards and wrapping paper without glitter, envelopes, cardboard packaging, leaflets, catalogues, newspapers and magazines. Do the scrunch test: paper that stays in a ball is recyclable. Glitter and foil paper and cards cannot be recycled.
• White bag and clear sacks (mixed recycling): glass bottles and jars, food and drink cans (washed and squashed), clean foil, cartons, crisp tubes, plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays, empty aerosols.
• Not in either: Christmas crackers, ribbon and string, polystyrene, Christmas decorations, batteries, electricals, nappies, corks, food waste.

More reusable bags can be ordered online or picked up at a library or community hub.

The tip over Christmas

Medway’s three household waste and recycling centres at Capstone, Cuxton and Hoath Way closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day last year and were open on every other day of the holiday, on the usual booking system (Medway Council, archived 6 January 2026). Every visit has to be booked, and there is no limit on the number of bookings. The slots, the vehicle rules and the proof of address you need are on our tip opening times page.

Where the dates will appear

The council announces festive changes through its waste and recycling news page and its check your collection day tool, which shows the next collection date for your address once the revised schedule is loaded. On 25 September 2026 the news page carried nothing about Christmas and the most recent festive material on the site was a 2024 operating plan.

Frequently asked questions

Will my bin be collected on Christmas Day 2026?

No. Christmas Day is a bank holiday and no collections have run on it in recent years. Last year the Christmas Day round was collected on the Saturday two days later. The 2026 arrangement is not yet published.

When can I put my Christmas tree out?

Last year real trees were collected from Monday 12 January, next to the brown bin. The council has not yet confirmed the 2027 date.

Is the tip open between Christmas and New Year?

Last year yes, on every day except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, and only with a booking.

What time do I need my bags out?

By 7am. Over Christmas the crews run until dusk and cover different streets in a different order, so a bag put out at 9am can be missed.

Sources

• Medway Council: Waste and recycling during the 2025 to 2026 festive period (archived copy; the live page has been removed)
• Medway Council: Household waste and recycling centres over the festive period (archived copy)
• Medway Council: waste and recycling news
• GOV.UK: UK bank holidays