Colchester’s recycling and rubbish collection days are changing slightly over the festive period, with scheduled collections during Christmas week moving backwards or forwards a day, depending on the normal collection day.
Residents are advised to check their recycling calendars here, which will show the collection changes. Otherwise, the changes are as follows:
Garden waste pause: As in previous years and in line with Garden Waste Collection terms and conditions there will be no garden waste collections from Monday, 23 December 2024 until Friday, 3 January 2025, whilst we focus on collecting Christmas recycling and rubbish. The Garden Waste collection service will re-start on Monday, 6 January 2025.
Monday collection changes: Flats bin-store rubbish collections scheduled for Monday, 23 December 2024, will now take place over the previous weekend.
Christmas week: There will be no scheduled collections on Wednesday, 25 December and Thursday, 26 December 2024. Tuesday to Friday scheduled collections will change as below:
Usual Collection Day New Collection Day
Tuesday, 24 December Monday, 23 December
Wednesday, 25 December Tuesday, 24 December
Thursday, 26 December Friday, 27 December
Friday, 27 December Saturday, 28 December
New Year's Week: There will be no kerbside or flats collections on Wednesday, 1 January 2025.
Tuesday, 24 December Monday, 23 December
Wednesday, 25 December Tuesday, 24 December
Thursday, 26 December Friday, 27 December
Friday, 27 December Saturday, 28 December
New Year's Week: There will be no kerbside or flats collections on Wednesday, 1 January 2025.
Usual Collection Day New Collection Day
Tuesday, 31 December Tuesday, 31 December
Wednesday, 1 January Thursday, 2 January
Thursday, 2 January Friday, 3 January
Friday, 3 January Saturday, 4 January
Tuesday, 31 December Tuesday, 31 December
Wednesday, 1 January Thursday, 2 January
Thursday, 2 January Friday, 3 January
Friday, 3 January Saturday, 4 January
Find out more here: Christmas and New Year collections
Information about Essex County Council’s Shrub End Recycling Centre opening times and items accepted can be found here.
Recycle your Christmas tree: If you are looking to recycle your real Christmas tree following the festive period, you can ask St Helena Hospice to take it away for a small donation.
Volunteers supporting St Helena will be out across Colchester and the surrounding areas between 10 January and 13 January, to collect pre-registered real Christmas trees from the postcode areas of CO1 to CO9 and CO11 to CO16.
More information can be found here.
Composting at Christmas: Turning your festive leftovers into compost is a great way to recycle food waste into nutrient-rich soil for your garden. You can compost items such as fruit scraps, vegetable peelings, and coffee grounds. Find out more about reducing food waste and recycling more over the Christmas period here.
Cllr Martin Goss, Portfolio Holder for Waste, Neighbourhood Services and Leisure, said: “We’ve updated our calendar system to ensure residents can easily see the changes this year in their personal calendar, helping to keep recycling collections as simple as possible.
“We encourage everyone to consider the environment by being mindful of what they buy and how they dispose of waste. Residents can find plenty of recycling tips and advice online and on social media to help make this a green and enjoyable Christmas for all.”
Collection days for households will return to normal on Monday, 6 January.
To find your recycling and rubbish collection calendar, enter your postcode at www.colchester.gov.uk/recycling.
Page last reviewed: 16 December 2024