Hounslow Council has not published its Christmas 2026 bin dates. Last year every round moved, some a day early, and normal service returned on 12 January.
Hounslow Council has not yet published its Christmas and New Year collection dates for 2026/27. We checked on 25 September 2026: the address the council used last year now returns a “page not found” message, and nothing festive has appeared on its waste pages or in its news feed.
What we can tell you is exactly what happened last year, because the council’s 2025/26 page is preserved in the Internet Archive, and Hounslow has followed the same shape for years: every round moves, some collections come a day early, and the catch-up runs into the second week of January.
The quick answer
The 2026 dates are not published yet. Last year’s page went live in the first half of December, so expect this year’s in early December. Last year every collection day changed, including the ones before Christmas: the Monday 22 December round was collected on Saturday 20 December, and the Boxing Day round waited until Monday 29 December. Garden waste and bulky waste stopped for two weeks, from 19 December to 5 January, and Space Waye closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. Normal collections resumed on Monday 12 January 2026. This page will be updated the day the 2026 dates appear.
Why this Christmas is shaped differently
Christmas Day 2026 falls on a Friday. Boxing Day is a Saturday, so the bank holiday moves to a substitute Monday, 28 December, and New Year’s Day is a Friday (GOV.UK bank holidays). Two Friday holidays and a Monday substitute is the awkward version for a collection round, because both Friday rounds have to be squeezed somewhere else in the week.
Last year Christmas Day was a Thursday and the council still moved every round for three weeks. Do not assume your day stays the same because it is early in the week.
What Hounslow did in 2025/26
The council said its crews would take four days off over the festive period, “something we’ve never been able to do before”, and moved every round to make that work. This is the table it published, captured by the Internet Archive on 20 December 2025 (Hounslow Council, archived). These are last year’s dates, not this year’s.
| Usual collection day | Collected on |
|---|---|
| Monday 22 December 2025 | Saturday 20 December (two days early) |
| Tuesday 23 December | Monday 22 December (a day early) |
| Wednesday 24 December | Tuesday 23 December (a day early) |
| Thursday 25 December | Wednesday 24 December (a day early) |
| Friday 26 December | Monday 29 December (three days late) |
| 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 |
Normal collections resumed on Monday 12 January 2026. Note the unusual part: the week before Christmas ran a day early, not late. If the council repeats that, a Chiswick household with a Monday round would put its boxes out on the Saturday before Christmas.
The council’s own “find your collection day” lookup did not show the revised dates last year; it only ever shows the usual day. Our bin collection days page covers the four-box system and the normal rounds.
Garden waste, bulky waste and Space Waye
Three things were fixed last year and are the ones the council is most likely to repeat (Hounslow Council, archived 20 December 2025):
- Garden waste and bulky waste collections stopped for two weeks, ending on 19 December 2025 and restarting on 5 January 2026. The council’s garden waste terms already commit to a two-week pause each Christmas.
- Space Waye closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, and was open on the other days. Our Space Waye page has the hours and the booking days.
- Extra recycling was collected, extra rubbish was not. Extra recycling had to go in clearly labelled carrier bags beside the boxes, sorted the same way: plastics and cans (red box), paper and card (blue box), glass (green box). Cardboard had to be flattened to no more than 70cm by 70cm. Bags of mixed recycling were left. Extra rubbish had to wait for the next collection or go to Space Waye.
Real Christmas trees
Last year Hounslow collected real trees from houses on the black wheelie bin service between Monday 5 and Friday 16 January 2026, on the garden waste week for your road: the same weekday as the rubbish collection, but the alternate week (Hounslow Council, archived). Trees had to be under 6ft, stripped of lights and decorations, and at the boundary of the property by 7am, not on the pavement.
Flats were not included. A managing agent or residents’ association had to email the council to arrange one bulk collection for the block.
There were also six free drop-off points, open from 19 December 2025 to 30 January 2026. The one for Chiswick was Turnham Green, opposite the church on Town Hall Avenue. The others were Hanworth Air Park, Hounslow Heath car park on Staines Road, Redlees Park in Isleworth, Bedfont Lakes and Space Waye itself.
What is still to be confirmed
- The 2026/27 revised collection table. Expected in early December, on the council’s waste pages.
- The 2027 tree collection dates and drop-off points. Published alongside it last year.
- Whether the garden waste pause runs 18 December to 4 January. That is the two-week shape on this year’s calendar; the council has only confirmed that there will be a pause.
We will update this page when any of those appear. If a collection is missed once the festive schedule starts, the council’s missed collection form is the route, not a phone call.
Have your say