Hertsmere puts its Christmas bin dates on a hanger on your black bin in December. Last year some rounds moved a day earlier and green bins stopped for 2 weeks.
Hertsmere Borough Council has not published its Christmas 2026 bin dates, and it will not put them on its website first. The council says festive changes are “communicated separately via a bin hanger on your black bin in December” (Hertsmere, collections and calendar). Last year’s schedule is below, and it held one surprise: some rounds moved a day earlier, not later.
The quick answer
- 2026 dates are not out yet. Expect a bin hanger on your black bin in December; last year’s printed sheet was produced on 11 November.
- Last year some bins went out a day early. Tuesday and Wednesday rounds in Christmas week were collected on the usual day or the day before.
- No green bin collections over the two holiday weeks last year. Normal rounds resumed on Monday 5 January.
What was different last Christmas
The normal Hertsmere rule is simple: in a bank holiday week every collection moves one day later. Christmas does not follow it. The 2025 sheet told residents: “This year, your bin may need to be put out one day earlier than usual” (Hertsmere, Christmas collections sheet 2025).
Where two days were listed, the instruction was to put the bin out on the first of them and leave it out until it was emptied.
| Normal collection | Revised collection |
|---|---|
| Christmas week: black and silver bins | |
| Monday 22 December | No change |
| Tuesday 23 December | Monday 22 or Tuesday 23 December |
| Wednesday 24 December | Tuesday 23 or Wednesday 24 December |
| Thursday 25 December | Wednesday 24 December |
| Friday 26 December | Saturday 27 December |
| New Year week: brown and silver bins | |
| Monday 29 to Wednesday 31 December | No change |
| Thursday 1 January | Friday 2 January |
| Friday 2 January | Saturday 3 January |
The sheet above is the one for Calendar A households. Hertsmere runs two calendars, so half the borough had black bins in New Year week rather than Christmas week. The day-moves followed the same pattern; which bin went out depended on your calendar. The council’s collections page has the lookup for your address.
Why 2026 will not copy 2025
The bank holidays fall on different days this year. Christmas Day is Friday 25 December, the Boxing Day bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December, and New Year’s Day is Friday 1 January 2027 (GOV.UK bank holidays).
That puts a holiday at the end of Christmas week, one at the start of the next week, and another at the end of it. The 2025 table cannot simply be moved on a year. Wait for the hanger, and check the council’s page in December.
Green bins and extra rubbish
There were no garden waste collections at all across the two weeks last Christmas (Hertsmere, Christmas collections sheet 2025). Crews take one black bin per household and leave extra bags beside it, so Christmas packaging that will not fit belongs in the brown bin if it is recyclable, or at the tip.
The county’s recycling centres close only on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day; our Borehamwood tip page has the hours and the new ePass rule. Your normal week-to-week rota is on our Borehamwood bin collection days page.
Still to be confirmed
- The 2026/27 dates for both calendars. Last year’s sheet was produced on 11 November and the hangers went out in December; we will update this page when the council publishes.
- Whether green bins pause again for two weeks.
- Any Christmas tree collection. The 2025 sheet did not mention one.
Sources: Hertsmere Borough Council collections and calendar page and its Christmas 2025 collections sheet (Calendar A); GOV.UK bank holidays. Checked 25 September 2026.
Have your say