Households across the London boroughs of Brent and Harrow are being urged to take note of significant changes to their waste and recycling collection schedules over the upcoming Christmas and New Year period.
Revised Collection Schedules for the Festive Break
The bank holidays on Thursday, December 25, Friday, December 26, and Thursday, January 1 will disrupt the normal service. Both local councils have published revised timetables to help residents avoid missed collections.
Brent Council's Arrangements
In Brent, all rubbish, garden waste and recycling collections will be impacted. On both the Christmas and New Year bank holidays, bins will be collected two days later than the usual collection day, pushing many pick-ups into the weekend.
Collections on days that are not national holidays will proceed as normal. This means the usual Thursday collection (December 25) moves to Saturday, December 27. The Friday collection (December 26) shifts to Sunday, December 28.
For the New Year, the Thursday (January 1) collection will happen on Saturday, January 3, with normal service resuming from Friday, January 2 onwards.
The Abbey Road Refuse and Recycling Centre will be closed on December 25, 26, and January 1. There will also be no bulky or small items collections on these bank holidays.
Harrow Council's Revised Timetable
Harrow Council has confirmed that no bin collections of any kind will take place on the bank holidays. The changes here are more extensive, affecting services into the second week of January.
If your collection is normally on a Monday, it will proceed as usual on December 22. For those with Thursday or Friday collections (December 25 and 26), pick-ups will be on Saturday, December 27 and Monday, December 29 respectively.
The following week sees a complete shift for all days:
- Monday (December 29) collections move to Tuesday (December 30).
- Tuesday (December 30) collections move to Wednesday (December 31).
- Wednesday (December 31) collections move to Friday (January 2).
- Thursday (January 1) collections move to Saturday (January 3).
- Friday (January 2) collections move to Monday (January 5).
In the week commencing January 5, all collections will happen one day later than usual. A Friday, January 9 collection, for example, will occur on Saturday, January 10. Services are scheduled to return to normal from Monday, January 12.
All garden waste collections in Harrow will pause for two weeks over the festive period.
Residents in both boroughs are advised to check their specific dates by entering their postcode on their local council's website.
Christmas Tree Recycling Options
Both councils are offering ways to responsibly dispose of real Christmas trees.
In Brent, you can recycle your tree 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. Alternatively, trees can be cut up and placed in garden waste bins (for subscribers), taken to a recycling centre, or collected as part of the bulky waste service.
Harrow Council is partnering with St Luke’s Hospice for its tree recycling scheme. A team of volunteers will collect real trees from doorsteps between January 10 and 11. Garden waste subscribers can also place their tree in their garden waste bin for collection.
