Guildford's 2026 Christmas bin dates are not out yet. Last year every round from Christmas Day slipped, garden waste stopped for two weeks, normal by 19 Jan.
Guildford Borough Council has not yet published its Christmas and New Year bin collection dates for 2026/27. We checked its website on 25 September. Last year’s changed days did not appear until late autumn: the council’s festive collections page was still returning “page not found” on 18 October 2025 and carried the full table by 8 December 2025. Expect this year’s in November.
Until then, last year’s arrangement is the best guide to what happens, and the calendar this year is harder than last.
The quick answer
- 2026/27 dates: not published yet. Last year’s table was live by early December.
- Last year, every round from Christmas Day onwards moved later, by between one and four days, and normal days only returned in the week of Monday 19 January.
- No garden waste for two weeks last year, from Monday 29 December to Friday 9 January.
What is already fixed for this Christmas
- The bank holidays fall on two Fridays and a Monday. Christmas Day is Friday 25 December 2026, the Boxing Day holiday moves to a substitute Monday 28 December, and New Year’s Day is Friday 1 January 2027 (GOV.UK bank holidays).
- Your normal bin day does not move for any other bank holiday. The council’s 2026 calendar treats every other holiday as an ordinary collection day; our Guildford bin collection days page has the week-by-week grid.
- Put bins out by 6.30am. The council says it “will not empty your bin if you do not leave them at your collection point by 6.30am on your collection day” (Guildford Borough Council, missed bins). On a slipped Christmas round that applies to the new day.
Because last year’s holidays fell on a Thursday and Friday, and this year’s fall on a Friday, a Monday and a Friday, the 2025/26 table cannot simply be moved along a year. Monday households, who kept their day last Christmas, are likely to be affected this time.
Last year’s changes, 2025/26
These are not this year’s dates. They are the council’s own table for Christmas 2025, which it published as “Changes to bin collection days over the Christmas and New Year period 2025 to 2026” (Guildford Borough Council, archived 8 December 2025).
| Usual collection day | Changed collection day |
|---|---|
| Monday 22 December | No change |
| Tuesday 23 December | No change |
| Wednesday 24 December | No change |
| Thursday 25 December (Christmas Day) | Monday 29 December |
| Friday 26 December (Boxing Day) | Tuesday 30 December |
| Monday 29 December | Wednesday 31 December |
| Tuesday 30 December | Friday 2 January |
| Wednesday 31 December | Saturday 3 January |
| Thursday 1 January (New Year's Day) | Monday 5 January |
| Friday 2 January | Tuesday 6 January |
| Monday 5 January | Wednesday 7 January |
| Tuesday 6 January | Thursday 8 January |
| Wednesday 7 January | Friday 9 January |
| Thursday 8 January | Saturday 10 January |
| Friday 9 January | Monday 12 January |
| Monday 12 January | Tuesday 13 January |
| Tuesday 13 January | Wednesday 14 January |
| Wednesday 14 January | Thursday 15 January |
| Thursday 15 January | Friday 16 January |
| Friday 16 January | Saturday 17 January |
Three things stand out. The slip ran for almost four weeks, far longer than the holiday itself. Three Saturdays carried catch-up rounds: 3, 10 and 17 January. The biggest moves were four days, for the Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day and Friday 2 January rounds.
Garden waste: there was no garden waste collection from Monday 29 December to Friday 9 January. Garden waste is a paid subscription, at £75 a bin for the 2026/27 year (Guildford Borough Council, garden waste).
Wrapping paper and cards
The council’s advice each Christmas is the same: wrapping paper and cards go in the recycling bin only if they are plain paper or card. Glitter-covered and foil-based wrap cannot be recycled and belongs in the black rubbish bin (Guildford Borough Council, 28 November 2024). In 2024 it also said it would post the changes on social media, write to parish councils and residents’ associations, and leave a limited number of paper copies at Millmead.
Real Christmas trees
Subscribers to garden waste can cut up a real tree and put it in the garden waste bin. For everyone else, the council has run a network of January drop-off points. Its page for Christmas 2024/25 listed more than 20, including the Artington park and ride car park and the Sutherland Memorial car park in Burpham during opening hours, Stoke Park by Burchatts Barn, Onslow Village Hall, Ripley village green and East Horsley village hall, for real trees with every decoration removed (Guildford Borough Council, archived January 2025). That page has since gone in the council’s website redesign, and no 2026/27 drop-off list has been published. We will add it when it appears.
The same page pointed to a paid collection by Shooting Star Children’s Hospices, covering GU1 to GU5 and GU23 among other postcodes, booked through Just Helping, with bookings opening in mid-November.
The tip over Christmas
Guildford’s community recycling centre at Slyfield is closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day and shuts at 2pm on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. It is also closed every Tuesday and Wednesday. Full hours are on our Guildford tip opening times page.
Still to confirm
- The 2026/27 changed days, expected in November. We will put the new table at the top of this page the day it appears.
- Garden waste suspension dates for 2026/27.
- Christmas tree drop-off points for January 2027.
This is also Guildford Borough Council’s last Christmas round: the council is replaced by West Surrey Council on 1 April 2027 (see our report). If you have a street-level problem over the holiday, the roadworks page and parking page cover the town centre.
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