Islington has not yet published its Christmas 2026 bin dates. Last year only Christmas Day and New Year's Day rounds moved; tree collection ran in January.
Islington Council has not yet published its Christmas and New Year collection dates for 2026. Its Christmas opening times page still shows last year’s arrangements, which we read on 25 September 2026. This page sets out what last year’s pattern was, how this year’s calendar differs, and where to take your tree.
The quick answer
- Last Christmas, only two days of rounds moved. There were no collections on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day; those rounds ran the next day, and Friday rounds moved to Saturday.
- This year Christmas Day and New Year’s Day are both Fridays, so if the council follows the same rule, the Friday rounds on 25 December and 1 January will move to the Saturdays.
- Real trees were collected from homes between 5 and 16 January 2026, and could be left at eight park drop-off points.
What happened last Christmas
For Christmas 2025 the council stopped collections on two days only, and moved each of those rounds back a day. Mixed recycling, food waste, garden waste and rubbish all followed the same change (Islington Council).
| Normal collection day | Christmas collection day |
|---|---|
| Thursday 25 December (Christmas Day) | Friday 26 December |
| Friday 26 December (Boxing Day) | Saturday 27 December |
| Thursday 1 January (New Year's Day) | Friday 2 January |
| Friday 2 January | Saturday 3 January |
Normal collections started again on Monday 5 January 2026. Every other day in the fortnight ran as usual, and the council collected on Boxing Day itself.
Why 2026 will look different
The bank holidays land on different days this year. GOV.UK lists Christmas Day as Friday 25 December 2026, Boxing Day as a substitute bank holiday on Monday 28 December, and New Year’s Day as Friday 1 January 2027.
Last year’s rule was “no collection on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day, that round goes the next day”. Applied to this calendar, the Friday rounds on 25 December and 1 January would move to Saturday 26 December and Saturday 2 January. That is our reading of last year’s approach, not a council announcement.
The Boxing Day substitute is the open question. Islington’s ordinary bank holiday rule is that there is no service on the bank holiday and every later collection that week runs one day late, so Friday becomes Saturday. If the council treats Monday 28 December as a normal bank holiday, the whole week of 28 December would slip a day. In 2025 it collected on Boxing Day, so it may not.
The year before was a two-week slip
Christmas 2023 shows how much the pattern can change. With Christmas Day on a Monday and Boxing Day on a Tuesday, the council moved every weekday round a day later for two weeks, from Monday 25 December to Friday 5 January, and weekend services stayed as they were. Normal collections resumed on Monday 8 January 2024 (Islington Council, archived 1 January 2024).
Two years, two different approaches. Wait for the published table before you put anything out a day early or late.
Christmas trees
After Christmas 2025 the council collected real trees from outside homes on the usual collection day between Monday 5 January and Friday 16 January 2026. Residents could also leave trees at eight drop-off points (Islington Council):
- Elthorne Park
- King’s Square Gardens
- Rosemary Gardens
- Wray Crescent, park end
- Spa Fields
- Tufnell Park Playing Fields, Campdale Road entrance
- Highbury Crescent (Highbury Fields)
- Paradise Park
The same page as archived in December 2024 also listed Hornsey Street Reuse and Recycling Centre as a drop-off point and said that only real trees are collected (Islington Council, archived 19 December 2024). Take off the pot, stand, lights and decorations first. An artificial tree cannot go out for collection; the Hornsey Street tip takes plastic trees and tree lights.
The tip over Christmas
The Reuse and Recycling Centre at 40 Hornsey Street, N7, is run by the North London Waste Authority, not the council. It is closed only on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, and opens 8.30am to 8pm on Boxing Day and other bank holidays (NLWA). Full hours, the van booking rule and the rubble limit are on our Islington tip opening times page.
Other council services last Christmas
Last year’s page also recorded these changes, a useful guide until the 2026 version appears:
- The customer service line, 020 7527 2000, closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, and closed at 4pm on 24, 29, 30 and 31 December.
- Libraries closed from 1pm on Christmas Eve, on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, from 5pm on New Year’s Eve and on New Year’s Day.
- The council did not enforce parking on Christmas Day, and handed out free parking vouchers in the winter issue of Islington Life for four days between Christmas and New Year. The detail is on our Islington Christmas travel page.
Still to be confirmed
- The 2026 collection table. The earliest archived copy of last year’s table is from 1 January 2026, so we cannot say when it went up; we will check from late November and update this page when it appears.
- Whether Monday 28 December moves the week’s rounds.
- The 2027 tree collection dates and drop-off points.
Your usual collection day, garden waste charges and the rules for flats above shops are on our Islington bin collection days page.
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