Epsom and Ewell skips the black bin in Christmas week and moves days in both festive weeks. Last year's full table, tree collections and when 2026 dates land.
In Epsom and Ewell, the black refuse bin is not emptied at all in Christmas week. Only food waste and recycling, including glass, go out that week, and several collection days move. Refuse comes back in New Year’s week. Garden waste and bulky waste stop for both weeks.
The borough council has not yet published its 2026 dates. It did not put last year’s table online until early December, and it also puts a label on every bin handle before Christmas with the dates for your road.
The quick answer
- Christmas week: no black bin collections. Put out food, recycling and glass only.
- New Year’s week: the black bin is back, but some days still move.
- 2026 dates are not out yet. Last year’s page was live by 6 December 2025. Look for the label on your bin handle.
What happened last Christmas
These are the council’s own 2025 tables from its Christmas and New Year collections page, as the page stood on 6 December 2025 (archived copy). The page has since been taken down, which is why it returns an error today.
Christmas week 2025: food, recycling and glass only
| Normal collection day | Actual collection day |
|---|---|
| Monday 22 December | No change |
| Tuesday 23 December | Monday 22 December |
| Wednesday 24 December | Tuesday 23 December |
| Thursday 25 December (Christmas Day) | Tuesday 23 December |
| Friday 26 December (Boxing Day) | Wednesday 24 December |
New Year’s week 2025/26: all bins, including the black refuse bin
| Normal collection day | Actual collection day |
|---|---|
| Monday 29 December | No change |
| Tuesday 30 December | No change |
| Wednesday 31 December | No change |
| Thursday 1 January (New Year’s Day) | Friday 2 January |
| Friday 2 January | Saturday 3 January |
Two things in that table catch people out. Collections were pulled earlier in Christmas week, not pushed later, so a Tuesday household that waited until its usual day missed the lorry. And Thursday and Christmas Day households were both collected on the same Tuesday.
Garden waste and bulky waste collections stopped for both weeks and resumed on Monday 5 January 2026.
Why 2026 will look different
The 2025 table cannot simply be copied forward. In 2025 Christmas Day fell on a Thursday. In 2026 it falls on a Friday, Boxing Day is a Saturday, and the Boxing Day bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December. New Year’s Day 2027 is also a Friday.
The last time the calendar fell that way was 2020. The council’s page that year (archived 23 December 2020) moved every Christmas-week collection one day earlier, with Monday’s round collected on Saturday 19 December. That year the missed refuse collection fell in New Year’s week, not Christmas week, except at flats. The service has changed since, so treat 2020 as a pattern and not a prediction.
What the council has said about the festive weeks
The council’s festive services notice for 2025 sets out the rules that have applied each year:
- In Christmas week “there will be no refuse collections”. Leave out food and recycling, including glass recycling, only.
- In New Year’s week normal refuse collections start again, “however, collection days may change”.
- Before Christmas the council places a label on bin handles with the collection details for your road over both weeks.
The same notice listed the Town Hall as closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, open 9am to 3pm on New Year’s Eve, and closed on New Year’s Day. The council’s 24-hour emergency line is 01372 732000.
Real Christmas trees
The council collects real Christmas trees free in January. The 2025 page said:
- It is a fortnightly service, and your bin label gives your road’s tree collection days.
- Take off every decoration and leave the tree next to your bins on the day.
- Do not cut it up. The crews say a whole tree is easier to collect.
If the bins are full after Christmas
With no black bin in Christmas week, the fortnight’s rubbish builds up. The county-run tip on Blenheim Road, Epsom, is closed every Tuesday and Wednesday. Surrey County Council says it shuts at 2pm on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve and is closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. Full opening hours, booking and charges are on our Epsom bin collection days page.
Driving to the tip in town? Check our parking in Epsom and roadworks pages. For the rest of the festive fortnight see Christmas trains and travel in Epsom.
Still to be confirmed
- The 2026 Christmas and New Year collection table. Expected by early December 2026, going by the 6 December 2025 capture. This page will carry it when it lands.
- The date the tree collections start in January 2027.
- Which week loses the black bin. In 2025 it was Christmas week; in 2020 it was New Year’s week. The label and the council page will settle it.
Sources: Epsom and Ewell Borough Council, Christmas and New Year collections page (2025 and 2020 versions via the Internet Archive) and its Council services over Christmas and the New Year 2025 notice. Checked 25 September 2026.
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