Trafford has not set its 2026 Christmas bin days yet. Last year Thursday and Friday rounds moved to Saturday 27 December and green bins stopped for a week.
Trafford has not published its Christmas 2026 bin dates yet. Its Christmas page still shows last winter’s table, and the round calendars that carry the festive changes run out at the end of November 2026, so the new ones have to appear before then.
The quick answer
- Last year, nothing moved until Christmas Day. Thursday 25 and Friday 26 December rounds were collected on Saturday 27 December.
- New Year’s week moved by one day from Thursday 1 January: Thursday to Friday, Friday to Saturday.
- Green bins were not emptied in Christmas week at all. Real Christmas trees went in the green bin free from 5 to 16 January.
Checked on 25 September 2026 against Trafford Council’s own pages.
What Trafford did last Christmas
This is the council’s 2025-26 table from its bin collections over Christmas and New Year page, which is still live:
| Normal collection day | Collected on |
|---|---|
| Monday 22 December | No change |
| Tuesday 23 December | No change |
| Wednesday 24 December | No change |
| Thursday 25 December | Saturday 27 December |
| Friday 26 December | Saturday 27 December |
| Monday 29 December | No change |
| Tuesday 30 December | No change |
| Wednesday 31 December | No change |
| Thursday 1 January | Friday 2 January |
| Friday 2 January | Saturday 3 January |
The council’s page prints the Wednesday row as “Wednesday 31 January”. It means 31 December, as the council’s news release of 15 December 2025 confirms. That release also says there were no collections on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day, and that normal schedules returned from Monday 5 January.
Green bins: anything put out from Monday 22 to Friday 26 December was left. The service restarted on Monday 29 December.
Why 2026 will look different
The calendar has shifted. This year Christmas Day is a Friday, Boxing Day a Saturday and New Year’s Day a Friday, so last year’s pattern cannot simply be copied across. Do not plan around the 2025 table.
The festive changes are printed on the round calendars. The current Monday round A calendar is headed “Waste collection calendar 2025/26”, runs from November 2025 to November 2026, and was uploaded on 25 November 2025. Last year’s news release followed on 15 December. Expect the 2026-27 calendars in the second half of November and a reminder release in mid December.
Your own round and day are on the council’s bin collection lookup, and the full year’s rules, including why nothing moves on the other bank holidays, are on our Altrincham bin days page.
Extra rubbish after Christmas
The council’s extra waste advice from last winter:
- Extra cardboard can go next to the blue bin on your first collection after Christmas.
- Up to two small bags of general waste can go next to the grey bin on that first collection. Any more are left.
- Plastic pots, tubs and trays, including chocolate tubs, meat trays and yoghurt pots, go in the black bin.
- Anything else goes to a recycling centre. Both borough centres shut on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Hours and rules are on our Altrincham tip opening times page.
Christmas trees
Last season’s rules, from the council’s Christmas tree recycling page:
- Green bin, no permit needed, 5 to 16 January. Strip the decorations, remove the base and chop the tree so the lid shuts. After 16 January a tree is only taken from a bin with a garden waste permit.
- Trees left beside the bin are not collected.
- Drop-off points, 1 to 16 January, at six park car parks: Cross Lane Park (Moss Lane), Flixton Park (Flixton Road), Hullard Park Yard (Northumberland Road), Longford Park (Rye Bank Road), Stamford Park (Stamford Park Road) and Walkden Gardens (Derbyshire Road).
- Charity collection through Just Helping, for St Ann’s Hospice and Francis House. The council says it recycled 5,309 trees and raised £117,675.20 the year before last.
- Artificial trees go in the general waste area at a recycling centre.
Still to be confirmed
- 2026-27 round calendars and the Christmas table: expected second half of November. This page will be updated when they are published.
- Tree collection dates for January 2027: last year’s were on the council page by 30 December.
Have your say