Southwark's Christmas 2026 bins: Friday 25 December moves to Sunday 27th, New Year's Day to Saturday 2 January. Free tree collection books from 21 December.

Southwark has already published its Christmas 2026 bin changes, and they are short. Only two collection days move. If your bins normally go on Friday 25 December, they are emptied on Sunday 27 December. If they normally go on Friday 1 January, they are emptied on Saturday 2 January. Every other day over the holiday is collected as normal.

The quick answer

  • Christmas Day (Friday 25 December 2026) moves to Sunday 27 December.
  • New Year’s Day (Friday 1 January 2027) moves to Saturday 2 January.
  • Free Christmas tree collection books from 21 December 2026 to 18 January 2027. Trees must be 5ft or under.

The Southwark table

This is the table on the council’s Christmas tips page, under the heading “Christmas bin collections 2026”. The council says “some collections over the Christmas period will run a day or two behind”.

Normal collection day New collection day
Friday 25 December 2026 Sunday 27 December 2026
Friday 1 January 2027 Saturday 2 January 2027

Nothing else is listed. That fits the calendar: Boxing Day falls on a Saturday this year, which is not a normal collection day, so no Boxing Day round needs to move. The bank holiday for Boxing Day is Monday 28 December, and the council’s table does not move Monday rounds. Read it as a normal Monday collection unless the council says otherwise.

To find your own day, use the council’s bin day lookup. Most Dulwich houses are on a fortnightly round, which the council does not spell out; our Dulwich bin collection days page explains it.

One caution about the date

The Christmas tips page was last updated on 12 January 2026. The council set the 2026 table straight after last Christmas, which is early. It could still be revised. We will check it again in the first week of December and update this page.

How last Christmas compared

Christmas 2025 fell on a Thursday, with Boxing Day on the Friday, so more weekday rounds landed on bank holidays last year. This year Boxing Day is a Saturday, which is why only the two Friday rounds are affected. The weekend is used to catch up, as the council’s missed collection page warns: “we may collect at weekends during the Christmas and New Year period.”

Christmas trees: free, but book it

Southwark collects real Christmas trees for free. According to the council, bookings “will reopen again on 21 December 2026 and close on 18 January 2027”.

  • Trees must be no taller than 5ft. Cut a bigger tree into pieces.
  • Take off every decoration, and remove the pot or stand.
  • Garden waste customers: put the tree out with your garden waste bin on collection day. No booking needed.
  • No garden waste bin: request a free collection once bookings open.
  • Flats: leave the tree outside on the kerb where the crew can see it, not in the bin store.
  • Or take it yourself to the reuse and recycling centre on Devon Street, SE15.

Artificial trees cannot go in recycling.

What goes in the recycling at Christmas

The council’s own “nice list” for the blue bin: empty sweet tins, cardboard gift boxes, Christmas cards without glitter, non-foil paper wrapping paper, glass bottles, empty plastic bottles, clean foil, and tins and cans.

Its “naughty list” is what people get wrong: glittery or foil wrapping paper, tinsel and baubles, Christmas lights and anything electrical, batteries, plastic toys, polystyrene, dirty packaging and artificial trees.

Food waste is collected weekly from most houses and street-level flats. Plate scrapings, peelings, bones and teabags go in the caddy.

The tip over Christmas

The Southwark Reuse and Recycling Centre on Devon Street, SE15 1AL is open every day from 8.30am to 4.30pm, and closes only on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, according to the council’s centre page. No appointment is needed. The ID rules and the van permit limits are on our bin collection days page.

If you live on the Lambeth side

West Dulwich and the western half of Herne Hill are collected by Lambeth, not Southwark. Lambeth has not published its Christmas 2026 changes, and it has no standing page for them; last year it announced them in December. We will add them here when it does.

Parking over Christmas

If you are clearing out and driving to the tip, Southwark’s parking rules change over the holiday too. On Christmas Day there is no parking enforcement and no bus lane enforcement in the borough, although banned-turn cameras still run. See our parking in Dulwich page and the Christmas travel page for the rest of the holiday detail.

Still to be confirmed

  • Whether Southwark revises the table. We check in early December.
  • Lambeth’s changes for West Dulwich. Expected in December.