Tunbridge Wells Christmas Bin Collections: 2026 Dates

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council has not yet published its Christmas and New Year collection dates for 2026/27. We checked on 25 September 2026: the council’s Christmas bin collections page, which carried the timetable in previous winters, currently returns a “page not found” error, and its bin collections update page says there are no changes to report. The most recent festive timetable the council has published is for 2024/25. It is set out below because the shape repeats from year to year, and it tells you roughly what to expect.

The quick answer

No 2026 dates yet. The council collects on every bank holiday except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, so those three are the days that move (Tunbridge Wells Borough Council). In 2024/25 every collection from Christmas Day onwards ran one or two days late, Saturdays were worked, and normal days returned on Monday 13 January. Garden waste is not suspended over Christmas, and real trees go out beside the black bin on your garden waste day. This page will be updated when the 2026 dates appear; last year’s were up by early December.

Why this year’s dates matter more than usual

The bank holidays fall on the awkward days for a collection round. Christmas Day is Friday 25 December 2026, the Boxing Day bank holiday moves to a substitute Monday 28 December, and New Year’s Day is Friday 1 January 2027 (Kent County Council, which lists the same three days as school bank holidays). Two Fridays and a Monday lost inside eight days means the catch-up will almost certainly run into the second week of January again.

Everything else about the service stays as it is on our bin collection days page: food waste weekly, the brown recycling bin and green box one fortnight, the green rubbish bin the next, and every container out by 7am.

Last year’s pattern, and it is only a guide

These are the council’s published changes for Christmas 2024/25. They are not this year’s dates. Collections ran as normal up to and including Tuesday 24 December 2024, then the following applied (Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, archived 5 December 2024).

Normal collection days returned from Monday 13 January 2025. The pattern is simple once you see it: the three lost bank holidays push the round back, crews work the Saturdays to claw a day back each week, and it takes until the third week of January to be square again.

If the council follows the same shape this year, a collection due on Christmas Day would move to Monday 28 December at the earliest, and the catch-up would run to about Saturday 9 January 2027. Treat that as arithmetic, not an announcement.

What to do while you wait

• Put the bin out on the normal day anyway if the council has published nothing by the time your collection falls in Christmas week. The 2024/25 page warned that rounds may be reorganised and collections may come earlier than usual, so a bin out late is a bin missed.
• Watch the update page. Delays and changes are posted on the council’s bin collections update page. Read the dated line at the top: older entries from previous winters sit underneath it and are easy to mistake for current news. On 25 September the page still carried a “Collections update, 3 January” entry from a previous year about garden waste on the Christmas timetable.
• Sign up for the reminder email. The council’s weekly email includes a reminder for your bin collection day, and its MyTWBC account gives you your own calendar (Tunbridge Wells Borough Council).

Garden waste and Christmas trees

Garden waste subscriptions are the exception to the festive slowdown. The council says it aims to keep the fortnightly black bin service running all year, and it is not suspended over Christmas (garden waste questions answered).

Real Christmas trees are collected with garden waste. Take the tree out of its pot, strip the decorations, and leave it beside your black bin on your garden waste day, as long as the trunk is under 7.5cm thick. If you do not subscribe, the 2024/25 page pointed to Hospice in the Weald’s Christmas tree recycling scheme as the alternative, and the tip at North Farm takes trees as garden waste.

What goes where after Christmas

The council’s own Christmas advice, repeated each year, is worth having to hand (archived 2024/25 page):

• Green box: cards and wrapping paper, but only if they have no glitter or metallic foil and the paper stays scrunched when you scrunch it. Large cardboard boxes go flattened between the bins on recycling week.
• Brown recycling bin: glass bottles and jars, plastic pots and tubs, tins and cans including sweet and biscuit tins, and rinsed foil trays.
• Green rubbish bin: glittery or metallic paper and cards, polystyrene, plastic bags and wrapping.
• On top of the brown bin, in a small bag: small household batteries.
• Food waste bin: the leftovers you cannot use.

Crush plastic containers and break down cardboard: the trucks compact material but do not crush it, and a full truck means a round cut short.

The tip over Christmas

The household waste recycling centre at North Farm is run by Kent County Council and closes on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. Its hours, the DIY-waste charges and the booking rules are on our bin collection days page.

Still to be confirmed

• The 2026/27 revised dates. Last year’s page was live by early December. We will check the council site weekly from mid-November and update this page the day the dates appear.
• Whether garden waste runs to the Christmas timetable or its own. In a previous year the council’s update page recorded a garden waste round that “should have taken place on Monday 2 January on the Christmas timetable” and was collected two days later, so the black bin can slip too.

Roads closed for festive events can also hold up a round: see parking and roadworks and travel.

Sources

• Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, Christmas bin collections, 2024/25 edition archived by the Wayback Machine on 5 December 2024; the live URL returned “page not found” on 25 September 2026
• Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, Bin collections update, Garden waste questions answered and Check your bin collection day, read 25 September 2026
• Kent County Council, Term dates, for the 2026/27 Christmas bank holidays