New Forest District Council and BCP Council announce changes to waste collections over Christmas and new year

Christmas and new year bin collection times have been revealed for the New Forest and Christchurch

As Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fall on a Monday, New Forest District Council has confirmed it will not be carrying out its usual rounds, with residents asked to instead keep hold of their rubbish until a rescheduled collection on Tuesday 2nd January.

Households who would usually have their rubbish collected on Tuesday 26th December and Tuesday 2nd January will move to Wednesday 3rd January.

Collections usually due between Wednesday 3rd January to Friday 5th January will each be made the day after.

Glass collections will also be moved from Monday 25th December to Saturday 30th December.

Those due on Tuesday 26th December will instead be on Saturday 6th January, while homes due a collection on Monday 1st January will instead be on Saturday 13th January.

NFDC will pause garden waste collections for two weeks over Christmas and new year and will resume on Monday 8th January.

The council is reminding residents that greeting cards and plain brown gift wrap can be recycled, but any decorations such as ribbons or sticky tape need to be removed first.

The majority of gift wrap is not suitable for recycling in Hampshire as it contains a mixture of plastic and foil.

From Sunday 31st December to Sunday 14th January residents will be able to drop off real Christmas trees to be recycled at drop-off points in Blackfield, Brockenhurst, Burley, Fordingbridge, Hythe, Lymington, Lyndhurst, Milford, New Milton, Ringwood and Totton. Decorations must be removed first.

Any trees left in car parks not on the list or near litter bins will be treated as flytipping.

For full details of locations and for more information on collection changes visit www.newforest.gov.uk/christmasrecycling

BCP Council has confirmed there will also be no collections in Christchurch on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day in order for the crews to enjoy a “well-earned break”.

Those who would normally have a collection on Monday 25th December will move to Wednesday 27th, while residents whose waste would normally be put out on Tuesday 26th December should wait until Thursday 28th.

Usual collections on Wednesday 27th will move to Friday 29th.

Any extra rubbish and recycling can be taken to local recycling centres, with sites open every day except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

They will be closing early, at 1pm, on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

The council’s cabinet member for climate response, environment and energy, Cllr Andy Hadley, said: “We all need to become more environmentally friendly and small changes can make all the difference, especially at Christmas when more gets consumed, and more waste is generated.

“From reusing last year’s wrapping paper and reducing your food waste, to recycling your mulled wine bottles and remembering to put bins out on the revised collection dates, everything needs to be considered when thinking about a green and more sustainable Christmas.”

He added: ”My thanks go to the waste teams who will be working hard over the festive period in all weather, as well as all the other council staff working over these important dates to aim to ensure everyone has a great seasonal holiday.”

After Christmas, for a small fee, local charities including Diverse Abilities, Dorset Mind and Lewis Manning will collect real trees and dispose of them.

Alternatively, trees can be chopped up and added to garden waste bins, ready for collection from the end of January.

For more information on revised collections visit www.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/festivebins