New Forest District Council publishes Christmas collection changes at the start of December. Last year every day from 25 December to 9 January moved.
New Forest District Council has not yet published its Christmas and New Year collection dates for 2026/27. It will not do so for another two months: the council says the festive changes go on its collection day lookup “at the beginning of December”, and last year’s notice went out on 27 November. What is already fixed is the shape of it. Christmas Day falls on a Friday this year, so every collection due from Friday 25 December onwards is likely to slip, and last year’s catch-up did not end until 12 January.
The quick answer
No 2026 dates yet. New Forest District Council publishes Christmas and New Year collection changes on its Find My Collection Day page at the beginning of December, printed on sacks and in the local press (New Forest District Council). Garden waste is already confirmed to stop from Monday 21 December 2026 to Friday 1 January 2027 (New Forest District Council). Last year every rubbish, recycling and food waste collection from 25 December to 9 January moved by one to three days, and the council took one extra sack of rubbish, up to 90 litres, on the first collection after Christmas.
What is already confirmed for Christmas 2026
Three things are settled, and only one of them is a date.
- Garden waste stops for two weeks. There are no garden waste collections from Monday 21 December 2026 to Friday 1 January 2027, and the service restarts on your next scheduled day (New Forest District Council).
- The bank holidays fall on two Fridays and a Monday. 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).
- The tips close on all three. Efford, Marchwood and Somerley are open seven days a week except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, and from 1 October they shut at 4pm (Hampshire County Council). Our New Forest tip opening times page has the booking rule and the winter hours.
Two Friday bank holidays with a Monday substitute is an awkward shape for a round that runs Monday to Friday, which is why the catch-up usually runs into the second week of January.
Last year’s pattern, and it is only a pattern
New Forest District Council has taken down its 2025/26 Christmas page, but its notice was reproduced word for word by several parish councils on the day it was issued, 27 November 2025 (Copythorne Parish Council, Netley Marsh Parish Council, Fawley Online). These are last year’s dates, not this year’s. They show how the council moves its rounds.
| Normal collection day | Collected instead on |
|---|---|
| Thursday 25 December | 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 |
| Thursday 1 January | 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 |
Collections went back to normal from Monday 12 January 2026. The council said there would be a change “for all households”, and asked people to check the dates and share them with neighbours.
Glass moved less. Only the three bank holiday collections shifted: Thursday 25 December to Saturday 27 December, Friday 26 December to Saturday 3 January, and Thursday 1 January to Saturday 10 January. Every other glass day stayed put.
Garden waste paused from Monday 22 December 2025 to Friday 2 January 2026 and restarted on Monday 5 January, the same two-week break the council has already confirmed for this year.
The extra sack and the cardboard bundle
Two concessions last year are worth knowing about, because the wheelie bin service now covers the whole district and the council does not normally take side waste.
- One extra sack of rubbish, up to 90 litres, was collected on the first rubbish collection after Christmas Day, left next to the black-lid wheelie bin.
- A small bundle of dry, flattened cardboard was collected on recycling day, left next to the green-lid wheelie bin.
Both came with the notice quoted above. Whether they return this year will be in the December announcement.
Real Christmas trees
The council’s notice last year did not include a kerbside tree collection. Real trees can go in the green waste container at any Hampshire tip, and Efford, Marchwood and Somerley all list them as accepted (Hampshire County Council). Garden waste subscribers can cut a tree up and put it in the brown-lid bin once collections restart in January.
How to check your own dates when they arrive
The council’s postcode lookup is the only place the changes are guaranteed to appear: Find My Collection Day. Last year’s notice also pointed to a short link, newforest.gov.uk/ChristmasRecycling, which currently returns nothing and should come back to life with the announcement. Glass households can join the council’s free Remind Me text service, which sends a message the day before a glass collection and warns of changes (New Forest District Council).
Still to be confirmed
- The 2026/27 revised dates for rubbish, recycling, food waste and glass: expected at the start of December 2026.
- Whether the extra sack and cardboard bundle are repeated.
- Any Christmas tree drop-off points. None was offered in the 2025/26 notice.
This page will be updated when the council publishes. For the normal fortnightly pattern, garden waste prices and bulky collections, see New Forest bin collection days. For getting around over the holiday, see Christmas trains and buses and parking in the New Forest.
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