Christmas and New Year rubbish and recycling

Over Christmas and New Year, your usual rubbish, recycling and food waste collection days will be different. You can check your bin day online, or refer to the table below for your revised collection days:

Extra rubbish and recycling?

• we will collect up to two extra sacks of rubbish beside your bin on your first rubbish collection after Boxing Day
• we will collect extra recycling that won't fit in your bin if placed in your own boxes, with glass kept in a separate box
• Household Recycling Centres are open from 10am to 4pm daily, except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.

Garden waste collections over Christmas and New Year

The Garden Waste service is suspended over the Christmas and New Year period, from Wednesday 25 December until Friday 8 January. 

Recycle more this Christmas

Most of us produce extra waste over the festive period.  Using the Recycle for Dorset kerbside service, you can recycle the following:

Brown food bin

• cooked and uncooked food waste

Recycling bin (or boxes if you don't use bins)

• wrapping paper (not foil based)
• Christmas cards (no glitter)
• cardboard
• tins and cans
• plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays

Box for glass

• glass bottles and jars (leave metal screw tops on bottles)

Battery bag

• household batteries.

Check what you can recycle using the Recycle for Dorset collection service

Recycling your real Christmas tree

Dorset Council does not collect real Christmas trees at the kerbside.

If you buy a real Christmas tree there are options for what to do once you've finished with it and removed all its decorations:

• if you have a garden waste collection, you can cut your real tree into small pieces and put it in your garden waste bin
• real Christmas trees can be taken to your local Household Recycling Centre and placed in the garden waste container for composting, free of charge

Please note that local organisations may be running Christmas tree collections to raise money for charity. Check local press and online for details.

Residents are also being asked to consider more eco-friendly options such as home composting, or buying a rooted tree that can be kept in the garden until next year.

Artificial Christmas trees will also not be collected by Dorset Council. If you can't keep it to use again, please take your tree to your local Household Recycling Centre.