Christmas and New Year rubbish and recycling collections

Residents in Bath & North East Somerset are being reminded of temporary alterations to their recycling and rubbish collection dates over the Christmas and New Year period.

From today (November 13), residents will start to receive leaflets in the post from Bath & North East Somerset Council advising them of the revised collection dates and key recycling service information.

Changes will affect collections which would normally be scheduled from Monday December 25 to Friday January 12.

A calendar with the revised dates is also available to download from the council website at www.bathnes.gov.uk/collectionday 

Garden waste collections will pause over the winter period and restart from January 15. Check your collection day on our website for details. Garden waste can instead be brought to the council’s recycling centres during opening hours.

Real Christmas trees are once again being collected by Dorothy House for a donation to their charity. Please visit their website to book a collection. Alternatively, trees can be taken to the council’s recycling centres or put out for collection on garden waste collection days from January 15 to February 9. Collections must be booked in advance on the council website and trees that have not been booked for collection and left out at the front edge of the property will not be collected.

When recycling Christmas trees, either at recycling centres or by pre-booked collections, all decorations must be removed and the tree should be cut in half, to less than 1.2m tall

On average the council collects 24% more rubbish and recycling over Christmas week than at any other time of year. Residents are being urged to recycle as much as possible and to avoid creating waste in the first place by using sustainable alternatives.

The council’s Recycle For Bathnes Facebook page will feature a 12-day ‘Countdown to Christmas’ with ways to help people reduce their waste.

Councillor Tim Ball, cabinet member for Neighbourhood Services, said: “Our crews work hard all year round, but Christmas and New Year is especially busy as they cope with the increased amount of rubbish and recycling – particularly food waste – that they need to collect. Please remember we collect more than 13 different items for recycling from weekly green box collections. To help the crews collect quickly, keep their vehicle moving and to reduce traffic congestion in your road, please wash, squash and sort the materials before you put them in your green boxes. We have posted leaflets to every household with the changes to the recycling and rubbish collection and you can also easily find the information for your postcode on our website.” 

The council’s recycling centres will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. The reuse shop in Keynsham recycling centre will be closed during Christmas week.

For information about what you can recycle each week, visit www.bathnes.gov.uk/recyclemore 

The Love Food Hate Waste website https://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com has plenty of seasonal tips to help reduce food waste and save money this Christmas.

For general service information visit www.bathnes.gov.uk/wasteservices 

Order recycling containers www.bathnes.gov.uk/orderacontainer 

For help with waste enquiries contact Council Connect: [email protected] or X (Formerly known as Twitter) @ccbathnes

Disruptions to waste collections are updated on this page: https://beta.bathnes.gov.uk/waste-disruptions