Ealing Christmas Bin Collections: Last Year Ran 4 Weeks Late

Ealing Council has not yet published its revised bin collection dates for Christmas 2026 and new year 2027. On 24 September 2026 the council’s rubbish and recycling pages still carried only the Christmas 2025 calendar, and a search of the council site for “Christmas 2026” returned nothing newer.

That calendar is worth reading now, because Ealing does not skip two days and catch up. Last winter every wheelie bin round in the borough ran late for four consecutive weeks and did not return to normal until Monday 19 January 2026. This page sets out what happened, when the 2026 dates are likely to appear, and what is already fixed for this Christmas.

The quick answer

• Christmas 2026 dates: not published yet. Last year’s calendar was live by 1 December, and the council’s full Christmas service notice came out on 18 December. Expect the 2026 table in early December.
• Christmas Day 2026 is a Friday, so Friday rounds are the first to move. The Boxing Day bank holiday is Monday 28 December and New Year’s Day is Friday 1 January 2027 (GOV.UK).
• Last year’s pattern: collections due on Christmas Day went two working days late and the slippage rolled through January, with Saturday catch-up rounds, until 19 January.

What happened last Christmas, day by day

This is the council’s own table for Christmas 2025 and new year 2026, from Rubbish and recycling collections, Christmas 2025. It applied to wheelie bin collections from houses and businesses. The council said flats with communal collections would “differ further” and gave no table for them.

Three things stand out for anyone planning around this year:

• The delay never caught up on its own. Two lost bank holidays cost every round one or two days, and the borough worked three Saturdays to close the gap.
• The last week before Christmas was untouched. Rounds on 22, 23 and 24 December ran as normal.
• Nobody got a fortnight’s slip. The worst single wait was for the Wednesday 31 December round, collected on Saturday 3 January.

The pattern is not new. In 2022 the council announced the festive changes on 7 December and said normal service would resume on 16 January 2023 (Around Ealing, 7 December 2022). In 2020 the return-to-normal date was 18 January 2021 (Around Ealing, 10 December 2020). The same 2022 notice said that homes on red routes and flats with communal bins would see no change to their collection days over the holidays. The 2025 page put it differently, saying communal collections would “differ further”, so if you are on a communal service, check your own address rather than the table.

What Christmas 2026 looks like on the calendar

The bank holidays this year, from GOV.UK, are:

• Friday 25 December 2026, Christmas Day
• Monday 28 December 2026, the substitute Boxing Day holiday, because 26 December falls on a Saturday
• Friday 1 January 2027, New Year’s Day

That means three lost weekdays rather than last year’s two, and they land on a Friday, a Monday and a Friday. If the council follows its usual approach, the Friday rounds due on Christmas Day will be the first to move, Monday rounds due on 28 December will follow, and the New Year’s Day loss will push everything again. We are not going to guess the dates. The council publishes an address-by-address calendar, and this page will carry the full table the day it appears.

One detail to watch: Ealing Council’s own school term dates page lists “26 December 2026 (Boxing day)” as a bank holiday. GOV.UK says the holiday is observed on Monday 28 December. It is the GOV.UK date that decides whether crews work.

When the 2026 dates should appear

• The Christmas 2025 calendar was already live on the council website when Around Ealing linked to it on 1 December 2025.
• The council’s round-up of every festive service change, including bins, the tip, parking and libraries, was published on 18 December 2025.
• In 2022 the bin announcement came on 7 December; in 2020 on 10 December.

So the first week of December is the realistic date. Until then, the council’s collection day finder is the tool to use, and it is worth re-checking it in mid-December because the address-level calendars are updated when the festive dates go in.

Put the bins out as usual, and report misses within the window

Nothing about the bank holidays changes the rules on the day. Bins go at the front of your property, inside your boundary, by 7am. If you are on sacks, put them out on the morning of collection, not the night before.

A missed collection can only be reported between 5pm on the collection day and 1pm the following day. Over Christmas that window is easy to lose, especially when a round has been moved and you are not sure whether it was missed or simply rescheduled. Check the revised date first, then report. Our Ealing bin collection days page has the full rules, what goes in each bin, and the garden waste and bulky collection prices.

Real Christmas trees: kerbside in January, or 20 park drop-offs

Ealing collects real trees from the kerb every January. The 2026 scheme, from the council’s 1 December 2025 notice, ran like this:

• Kerbside window: Monday 5 January to Friday 23 January 2026. Leave the tree at the front of your property and it is taken as part of your normal service, mostly on the same day as your black bin collection.
• Size limit: no taller than 6 feet, trunk under 20cm across. Real trees only, all decorations off. Earlier years said a taller tree could be cut in two.
• Flats and communal bins: no kerbside pickup. You must use a drop-off point, and the deadline was the same 23 January.

The council listed 20 drop-off points in parks and open spaces: Acton Park, Berkeley Fields, Churchfields Park in Hanwell, Cleveland Park, Ealing Central Sports Ground, Ealing Common at Grange Road, Elthorne Park, Islip Manor Park, Lammas Park, North Acton Playing Fields, Perivale Park, Pitshanger Park, Ravenor Park, Rectory Park, Southall Park, Southfields Recreation Ground, Spikes Bridge Park, Springfield Gardens, Walpole Park and Southfields Park. Trees also go free to the Greenford Road recycling centre, but only with a booked slot.

The 2027 dates will be announced with the Christmas notice, usually on 1 December.

The tip over Christmas

Greenford Road reuse and recycling centre is on winter hours from 1 October: 8am to 4pm on Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, closed every Wednesday and Thursday, and closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. Every visit has to be booked in advance, and residents arriving without a booking are turned away (Ealing Council). Last year the council confirmed the centre was otherwise “open as usual” through the holidays. The booking rules, what it takes and the DIY charges are on our Ealing tip opening times page.

Everything else that changed last Christmas

The council’s 18 December 2025 notice is a useful preview of what to expect this year, because most of it repeats annually:

• Parking was free in council car parks, pay and display bays and phone parking bays on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, and visitor bays in controlled parking zones were free on those days too. Yellow lines, bus lanes and loading bays were enforced on every other day. The parking office shut from 5pm on 24 December to 9am on 2 January. See parking in Ealing.
• Libraries ran reduced hours from Christmas Eve, closed 25 and 26 December, and most branches were shut on 29 and 30 December as well.
• Community hubs closed at 5pm on 24 December and reopened at 10am on 2 January.
• Noise complaints had no service on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or late on New Year’s Eve.

Source: Changes to services over the 2025/2026 Christmas and new year period, Ealing Council, 18 December 2025.

Still to be confirmed

• The Christmas 2026 collection table, expected in the first week of December 2026.
• Whether flats with communal bins keep their normal days, which the council has described differently in different years.
• The 2027 Christmas tree window and drop-off list, expected with the same announcement.

This page was checked against the council’s website on 24 September 2026 and will be updated when the dates are published.