Bromley's Christmas Day bins are collected on Tuesday 29 December, and every round runs late until normal service returns on 18 January. Updated November 2026.
Bromley’s Christmas 2026 bin collections start moving on Christmas Day: Friday 25 December’s round is collected on Tuesday 29 December, and every round after it runs late until collections return to normal in the week of 18 January 2027. The council published the revised days on its bank holiday collections page, read on 12 November 2026.
Updated 12 November: the council has published its Christmas and New Year 2026/27 collection table. The table below replaces last year’s, which is kept further down for comparison.
Overview
- Up to Thursday 24 December: no change. The council’s table starts at Christmas Day.
- Friday 25 December (Christmas Day) is collected on Tuesday 29 December. There are no collections on Monday 28 December, the Boxing Day bank holiday.
- Every later round runs late, and rounds are still a day late in the week of 11 January.
- Normal collections return in the week commencing 18 January 2027.
Christmas 2026: every revised day
| Usual collection day | Collected on |
|---|---|
| Up to Thursday 24 December | No change |
| Friday 25 December (Christmas Day) | Tuesday 29 December |
| Monday 28 December | Wednesday 30 December |
| Tuesday 29 December | Thursday 31 December |
| Wednesday 30 December | Saturday 2 January |
| Thursday 31 December | Monday 4 January |
| Friday 1 January (New Year’s Day) | Tuesday 5 January |
| Monday 4 January | Wednesday 6 January |
| Tuesday 5 January | Thursday 7 January |
| Wednesday 6 January | Friday 8 January |
| Thursday 7 January | Saturday 9 January |
| Friday 8 January | Monday 11 January |
| Monday 11 January | Tuesday 12 January |
| Tuesday 12 January | Wednesday 13 January |
| Wednesday 13 January | Thursday 14 January |
| Thursday 14 January | Friday 15 January |
| Friday 15 January | Saturday 16 January |
Source: London Borough of Bromley. The council’s table starts at Christmas Day, so rounds before it are unchanged.
Three things will catch people out:
- The slip is longer than last year’s. Thursday 31 December’s round is not collected until Monday 4 January.
- There is no collection on New Year’s Day, so Wednesday 30 December’s round jumps to Saturday 2 January.
- The delay lasts three weeks. Rounds still run a day late in the week of 11 January.
What happened at Christmas 2025
The London Borough of Bromley’s bank holiday collections page carried this table last winter. We have taken it from the copy archived on 16 December 2025, because the live page now shows the 2026/27 table.
| Usual collection day | Collected on |
|---|---|
| Monday 22 to Wednesday 24 December | No change |
| Thursday 25 December (Christmas Day) | Saturday 27 December |
| Friday 26 December (Boxing Day) | 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 to Friday 9 January | One day later, Tuesday 6 to Saturday 10 January |
The council’s page said collections returned to normal in the week commencing 12 January 2026.
Two things caught people out. New Year’s Day was not a collection day, so Wednesday 31 December’s round jumped to Friday 2 January. And the one-day slip carried on into the second week of January, long after the bank holidays had passed.
The year before was the same pattern
Christmas 2024 worked the same way. Wednesday 25 December moved to Friday 27 December, and each later round slipped by a day until Friday 10 January went out on Saturday 11 January. Normal collections resumed in the week of 13 January 2025, according to the archived 2024/25 version of the same page.
In both years, a bank holiday pushed that day’s round back, and every later round moved with it until a Saturday absorbed the slip. This year there are three bank holidays on collection days, Friday 25 December, Monday 28 December and Friday 1 January, which is why this year’s delays are longer. The bank holiday dates are on GOV.UK.
How to check your own day
The council’s collection day checker tells you your weekday and whether you are on a black box week or a green box week. The printable waste collection calendars show the week pattern. Our bin collection days page explains what goes in each container.
Containers still need to be out by 7am on the revised day.
Christmas trees
The council runs a free real-tree drop-off on one weekend in January. Its Christmas tree recycling page currently lists last season’s sites and times.
Saturday 10 January, 11am to 4pm - Bromley: Norman Park, Hook Farm Road (off Bromley Common) - Green Street Green: Salt Depot, Shire Lane Spur (off Sevenoaks Road) - St Paul’s Cray: Cotmandene Crescent car park
Sunday 11 January, 8am to midday - Biggin Hill: Charles Darwin School, Jail Lane - Beckenham: Unicorn Primary School car park, Creswell Drive (off South Eden Park Road)
Take every decoration off first. A tree left at a site outside those hours counts as fly-tipping.
There are two other routes. Garden waste subscribers can put the tree in their green wheelie bin, cut down if needed. Anyone can take it to the Churchfields Road tip in Beckenham with a booking. Opening hours and the Christmas closures are on our tip opening times page.
Still to be confirmed
- January 2027 tree drop-off dates. The page above still shows the January 2026 weekend. We will update it when the council does.
Sources
- Bank holiday waste and recycling collections, London Borough of Bromley, with archived versions from 16 December 2025 and 19 January 2025
- Christmas tree recycling sites, London Borough of Bromley
- Churchfields Road Reuse and Recycling Centre, London Borough of Bromley
- UK bank holidays, GOV.UK
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