Southport Christmas bins 2026: dates due in December

Sefton Council has not yet published its Christmas and New Year bin collection dates for 2026. Last year’s arrived in December, and last year’s pattern is the thing to know: Sefton brings Christmas collections forward a day rather than pushing them back, so a bin put out on the usual day can be a day late.

The quick answer

• 2026 dates: not published yet. Sefton’s 2025 page was last updated on 19 December 2025, so expect this year’s in early to mid December.
• Last year, rounds moved a day EARLIER. Tuesday collections went on the Monday, Wednesday on the Tuesday, Thursday on the Wednesday. Only the Boxing Day round went later.
• The tips stay open from 8am to 5pm every day except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

Why this Christmas is awkward

Both bank holidays fall on a Friday this year. Christmas Day is Friday 25 December 2026, Boxing Day is a Saturday so the bank holiday moves to a substitute Monday 28 December, and New Year’s Day is Friday 1 January 2027 (GOV.UK bank holidays).

That puts Friday rounds in the firing line twice. It is also a different shape from 2025, when Christmas fell on a Thursday, so last year’s table below is a guide to how Sefton thinks, not a set of dates to copy.

What Sefton did in 2025

This is the council’s own revised schedule for grey bins and sacks, from its Christmas and New Year 2025 page. The brown bin and hessian sack recycling table on the same page was identical. These are last year’s dates, not this year’s.

The practical lesson: when the 2026 table appears, check it against your own day. If your round moves earlier, the bin has to be out by 6.30am on the earlier day, and Sefton’s missed collection rules give you only three working days to report a miss.

What stops over Christmas

Sefton’s 2025 page said the crews that were working would be prioritising grey bins and refuse sacks. It also set out:

• Bulky items and clinical waste: the last collection before Christmas was Wednesday 24 December 2025, restarting on Monday 5 January 2026.
• Council buildings: closed from 4pm on Wednesday 24 December, reopening at 9am on Monday 5 January.

The priority rule has teeth. In 2023 Sefton suspended every brown bin recycling collection due in the week of 25 December, and announced it on 22 December 2023, three days before. Those households waited until the week of 8 January 2024. It is worth checking the council’s page again in the week before Christmas, not just when it first goes up.

Green garden waste bins are not collected over Christmas at all. Sefton’s garden waste service stops for the winter in November and returns in March; the dates for each round are on our Southport bin days page.

The tips, and your Christmas tree

All four Sefton household waste recycling centres, at Foul Lane in Southport, Altcar Road in Formby, Sefton Lane in Maghull and Irlam Road in Bootle, open 8am to 5pm every day in winter and close only on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day (Sefton Council). That makes the tip the fallback if a collection slips.

Sefton does not run a kerbside Christmas tree collection. It says real trees can be recycled at any recycling centre in the borough. Opening hours, van bookings and what each site takes are on our Southport tip opening times page.

Still to be confirmed

• The 2026 revised collection table. Expected in December; we will add it here the day it appears.
• Whether brown bins run in the Christmas week. Sefton kept them in 2025 but suspended them in 2023.
• The last bulky item collection date before Christmas 2026.

If your street’s collections are affected by the roadworks around Southport, the council’s missed-collection route still applies.