Stockport's Christmas 2026 bin dates arrive with the new December calendar. Last year food bins skipped a week and some rounds moved to a Saturday.

Stockport Council has not published its Christmas 2026 bin dates yet, and it has said where they will come from. Every round calendar now online stops on the last collection in November, with the line: “In December your blue bins will be collected every two weeks and a new calendar will be sent out to you nearer the time” (Monday round calendar 21A, uploaded 9 September 2026). The Christmas changes will be in that December calendar.

Until it lands, last Christmas is the best guide. We read the council’s own calendars for twelve rounds that ran through Christmas 2025. The pattern was consistent, and it was not a simple one-day slip.

The quick answer

  • Christmas 2026 dates are not out yet. They come with the new calendar that starts fortnightly blue bin collections in December.
  • Last year, no green bins were emptied on Monday 29 to Wednesday 31 December. That is your food waste as well as garden waste.
  • Collections due on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day either moved to a Saturday or a Monday, or did not happen at all, depending on your round.

What changed on each round last Christmas

These are 2025/26 dates, not this year’s. Each row is one printed round calendar from the council’s collection-day service, identified by the code in its bottom corner. Your code is on your own calendar.

Round Week of 22 Dec 2025 Christmas week New Year week
Monday 11A Mon 22: green Mon 29: black only, no green Mon 5 Jan: blue, brown, green
Monday 21A Mon 22: black, green Mon 29: nothing Mon 5 Jan: black, green
Monday 31A Mon 22: blue, brown, green Mon 29: black only, no green Mon 5 Jan: green
Monday 41A Mon 22: black, green Mon 29: blue and brown, no green Mon 5 Jan: black, green
Tuesday 12A Tue 23: green Tue 30: black only, no green Tue 6 Jan: blue, brown, green
Tuesday 22A Tue 23: black, green Tue 30: nothing Tue 6 Jan: black, green
Wednesday 13A Wed 24: green Wed 31: black only, no green Wed 7 Jan: blue, brown, green
Wednesday 23A Wed 24: black, green Wed 31: nothing Wed 7 Jan: black, green
Thursday 14A Thu 18: black, green Thu 25: nothing Moved to Sat 3 Jan: black, green
Thursday 24A Thu 18: blue, brown, green Moved to Sat 27 Dec: black only Moved to Sat 3 Jan: green
Friday 15A Fri 19: black, green Fri 26: nothing Fri 2 Jan: black, green
Friday 25A Fri 19: blue, brown, green Moved to Mon 29 Dec: black only Fri 2 Jan: green

Three rules sit behind the table:

  • Green-only weeks that fell on a holiday or in the week after Christmas were simply dropped. On the four-week cycle, a green-only week is the one with no black, blue or brown bin, so the round lost nothing but food and garden waste.
  • Black bins were protected. Where a black bin collection landed on Christmas Day or Boxing Day it moved, to Saturday 27 December or Monday 29 December.
  • Thursday rounds went out on a Saturday twice. New Year’s Day collections moved to Saturday 3 January.

Why this Christmas will look different

Two things change for 2026.

First, the calendar itself. Blue bins return to every two weeks in December, reversing the four-weekly paper and card collection that began on 26 May 2025 (our report on the blue bin decision has the background). A new cycle means new dates, so last year’s round codes are a guide to how the council handles holidays, not to which bin goes out when.

Second, the calendar year. The bank holidays fall on Friday 25 December, Monday 28 December (the substitute for Boxing Day, which is a Saturday) and Friday 1 January 2027 (GOV.UK). Last year they fell on a Thursday, Friday and Thursday. This year the Friday rounds are the ones that meet two holidays, and a Monday bank holiday lands in the middle of the Christmas week.

What will not change: through the rest of the year Stockport’s calendars collect as normal on bank holidays, and Christmas and New Year are the only exception. That is how every 2026 bank holiday has worked (our bin collection days page has the full cycle and the bank holiday record).

Christmas trees

Two routes, both free of the tip.

  • Your green bin. Real Christmas trees can go in if you cut them up small enough to fit with the lid closed, with branches no more than 10cm across (Stockport Council). Given last year’s pattern, the first green collection after Christmas may be a week or more later than you expect.
  • The hospice collection. Moya Cole Hospice (formerly St Ann’s) runs a collection with the charity Just Helping, for a donation. Last January you had to register by Friday 9 January 2026 and leave the tree out by 8am that day. The previous year’s collection took 5,309 trees and raised £117,000, and the trees are chipped for paths in Wythenshawe Park (Moya Cole Hospice). Registration last opened on 20 November 2025 (Moya Cole Hospice).

Extra rubbish at Christmas can go to any of the three recycling centres, Adswood Road, Bredbury Parkway and Rose Hill, which are open 8am to 8pm every day and closed only on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. No booking is needed in a car; vans need a permit applied for two working days ahead. The details are on our bin collection days page.

Still to be confirmed

  • The December calendar, with the fortnightly blue bin dates and the Christmas changes. The council says it will be delivered to households and put online “nearer the time”. We will check from mid-November and publish the dates here the day they appear.
  • The 2026/27 tree collection dates and registration link.

Until then: your current calendar runs to your last November collection. Check your own dates on the council’s find your collection day service, and if you are travelling over Christmas, our Christmas trains and buses page covers the rail and bus changes.

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