Hillingdon has not set its 2026 Christmas bin days. Last year most rounds moved earlier, with Saturday crews on 20 and 27 December. Garden waste stops 21 Dec.

Hillingdon Council has not published its Christmas 2026 bin collection dates yet. On 25 September its bank holiday page says only that “the Christmas and New Year bank holiday dates will be added once confirmed”. (Hillingdon Council)

So this page gives you the three things you can plan around now: which days are bank holidays this year, what the council did in each of the last three Christmases, and the one change that is already fixed, which is that garden waste collections stop from 21 December.

The quick answer

  • 2026 dates: not announced. In 2024 the table was on the council’s page by early September, in 2023 by 9 October, and in 2025 it appeared some time between July and mid-November.
  • The days that will move this year are Friday 25 December, Monday 28 December and Friday 1 January, the three bank holidays. Boxing Day falls on a Saturday, so the bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December. (GOV.UK)
  • Garden waste is suspended from 21 December 2026 to 3 January 2027, under the council’s 2026/27 terms. (Hillingdon Council)

What Hillingdon did last Christmas (2025)

Christmas Day 2025 was a Thursday. Rather than push collections back, the council brought most of them forward, and put crews out on three Saturdays: 20 December, 27 December and 3 January.

Normal day Christmas 2025 collection
Monday 22 December Saturday 20 December
Tuesday 23 December Monday 22 December
Wednesday 24 December Tuesday 23 December
Thursday 25 December Wednesday 24 December
Friday 26 December Saturday 27 December
Monday 29 to Wednesday 31 December No change
Thursday 1 January Friday 2 January
Friday 2 January Saturday 3 January

Source: the council’s bank holiday page as archived on 15 November 2025 and 3 January 2026. (Internet Archive copy of Hillingdon Council’s page)

The catch in that table is the first row. A Monday household had its Christmas collection on the Saturday before, two days early. Anyone who assumed “a day late, as usual” missed it.

The two years before that

In 2024, with Christmas on a Wednesday, the council went the other way: Monday and Tuesday were unchanged, and the rest slipped. Wednesday 25 December moved to Friday 27 December, Thursday 26 moved to Saturday 28, and Friday 27 moved to Sunday 29 December, when crews worked. Over New Year, Wednesday 1 January moved to Thursday 2 January and Thursday and Friday each moved one day later, to Friday 3 and Saturday 4 January. The page said “Page last updated: 06 Sep 2024”. (Internet Archive copy, October 2024)

In 2023, with Christmas on a Monday, the Monday collection moved back to Saturday 23 December, and every other day moved one day later, right through to Friday 5 January moving to Saturday 6 January. Normal collections returned on Monday 8 January 2024. That table was last updated on 9 October 2023. (Internet Archive copy, January 2024)

Three years, three different shapes. The only fair reading is that the council designs a fresh table each year, uses weekend crews, and is willing to move a round earlier as well as later. We are not going to guess the 2026 version. With Christmas Day and New Year’s Day both on a Friday this year, and the Boxing Day holiday on Monday 28 December, Friday and Monday households are the ones to watch.

Garden waste over Christmas

The 2026/27 garden waste subscription costs £77 and runs from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. Its terms say:

  • collections are weekly until 30 November
  • fortnightly in December, January and February
  • “From 21 December to 3 January, all collections are suspended”
  • you can still join until 31 December 2026, at the full fee with no pro rata

(Hillingdon Council, garden waste terms and conditions 2026/27)

That suspension is new in practice. The council’s 2025/26 terms carried a note switching the same clause off for that year, so last winter’s garden waste did not stop in the same way.

The usual rules still apply

Put rubbish and recycling out at the front of your property before 6am on collection day, inside your boundary where you can, not on the pavement. Flats and business premises have separate arrangements. (Hillingdon Council) Your normal day comes from the council’s postcode look-up, and how the borough’s bag-based system works is on our Uxbridge bin collection days page.

If you need the tip instead

Harefield Civic Amenity Site closes on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. The weekend-only West Drayton site on Tavistock Road is due to close for good on 21 December, according to a motion put to Full Council on 24 September. Hours, booking rules and the Feltham alternative are on our Hillingdon tip opening times page, and the background is in our report on the West Drayton tip closure.

Still to be confirmed

  • The 2026 Christmas and New Year collection table. We check the council’s page in mid-October and will put the full table at the top of this page the day it appears.
  • Whether the council runs Saturday crews again, and which households move earlier rather than later.
  • Any real Christmas tree collection arrangements, which the council has not published for this year.

Sources