Households across the London boroughs of Brent and Harrow must prepare for significant alterations to their waste and recycling collection schedules over the upcoming Christmas and New Year period.
Revised Collection Dates for the Festive Break
The festive bank holidays, which fall on Thursday, December 25, Friday, December 26, and Thursday, January 1, will disrupt the usual residential collection services. Both local authorities are urging residents to take note of the temporary arrangements to ensure their rubbish is not left uncollected.
In Brent, all collections for general waste, recycling, and garden waste will be impacted. On both the Christmas and New Year bank holidays, bins will be collected two days later than the normal schedule, pushing collections into the weekend. Collections on all other non-holiday days will proceed as usual, a change from some previous years.
The specific changes for Brent are as follows:
- The normal Thursday collection due on December 25 (Christmas Day) will move to Saturday, December 27.
- The Friday collection scheduled for December 26 (Boxing Day) will shift to Sunday, December 28.
- In the New Year, the Thursday collection for January 1 will be on Saturday, January 3.
- Normal service resumes from Friday, January 2.
Harrow Council has confirmed there will be no bin collections of any kind on the bank holidays. The schedule changes are more extensive and will ripple into the second week of January.
Detailed Schedule for Harrow Residents
For the first week, if your collection is normally on a Monday (December 22), it remains unchanged. However, for the bank holidays:
- Thursday collections (December 25) move to Saturday, December 27.
- Friday collections (December 26) move to Monday, December 29.
The following week, all collections are delayed by one day:
- Monday (December 29) collections move to Tuesday (December 30).
- Tuesday (December 30) moves to Wednesday (December 31).
- Wednesday (December 31) moves to Friday (January 2).
- Thursday (January 1) moves to Saturday (January 3).
- Friday (January 2) moves to Monday (January 5).
The pattern continues the week after, with all collections again taking place one day later than usual. For example, a Monday collection on January 5 will happen on Tuesday, January 6. This means even those with a Friday, January 9 collection will see it picked up on Saturday, January 10. Services in Harrow are set to return to normal from the week beginning Monday, January 12.
Residents in both boroughs can find their precise collection day by entering their postcode on their respective council's website. Both councils have also announced that all garden waste collections will be suspended for two weeks over the Christmas period.
Free Christmas Tree Recycling and Other Services
Both councils are offering ways to responsibly dispose of real Christmas trees. In Brent, residents can recycle their trees for free at various locations across the borough from Friday, December 26 to Monday, January 5. Locations can be found on the council's interactive map.
Alternative options in Brent include cutting the tree up for the garden waste service, taking it to a recycling centre, or arranging a collection via the bulky waste service.
In Harrow, the council is partnering with St Luke’s Hospice for a charitable collection service. Volunteers will collect real trees from doorsteps between January 10 and 11. Alternatively, subscribers to the garden waste service can place their tree inside their garden waste bin for collection.
Residents should also note that the Abbey Road Refuse and Recycling Centre will be closed on December 25, 26, and January 1. There will be no bulky or small items collections on these bank holidays either.
