Sutton posts its festive bin dates late: last year's leaflet landed on 17 December. What we know for 2026, the tip's Christmas hours and the garden waste pause.
Sutton Council has not published its 2026 Christmas and New Year bin collection dates yet, and on last year’s evidence it will be mid-December before it does. In 2025 the council put the festive dates in a printed leaflet that started “dropping on doormats around the borough” on 17 December, and posted a news item linking to it the same day (Sutton Council, 17 December 2025). That leaflet carried the waste, recycling and Christmas tree collection dates for the whole festive period.
Three things are already fixed for this winter, and they are below. This page will be updated when the 2026 dates are out.
The quick answer
- 2026 festive bin dates: not published yet. Last year they arrived on 17 December, by leaflet and on the council’s news page.
- Garden waste stops from Wednesday 6 January to Sunday 31 January 2027 and restarts on Monday 1 February 2027.
- The Kimpton Park Way tip closes on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, and shuts at noon on Christmas Eve.
Which days are affected this year
Christmas 2026 falls awkwardly for Sutton’s rounds. Christmas Day and New Year’s Day are both Fridays, and Boxing Day is a Saturday, so the bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December (National Rail’s festive notice confirms the substitute day: National Rail, Christmas and New Year 2026/27).
That matters because Sutton runs its household rounds Tuesday to Friday. When we sampled 48 addresses across the borough on the council’s lookup in August, 8 were Friday rounds and none was a Monday round (the full sample is on our Sutton bin collection days page). So:
- Friday households are the ones with two collections to move: Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
- Tuesday to Thursday households fall on ordinary working days in both weeks, but the council has not said whether it will run them as normal.
- The Monday 28 December bank holiday should touch no household round at all, if the pattern in our sample holds for your street.
None of that is confirmed until the council publishes its festive calendar.
The garden waste break
This one is published and dated. The council’s garden waste page says the service “will break for four weeks over the festive period from Wednesday 6th January 2027 to Sunday 31st January 2027”, and “will recommence on Monday, 1st February 2027”. It gives the reason too: garden waste volumes drop in midwinter, and the crews are moved onto “the collection of extra recycling and waste generated over the festive period. This includes the collection of Christmas trees” (Sutton Council, garden waste).
The subscription is £99 a year per bin and covers 24 fortnightly collections, so the January gap is already built into the price.
Christmas trees
Real trees are collected from the kerb in January by the crews freed up from garden waste; last year’s leaflet carried the tree collection dates. The 2026 tree dates are not out yet. If you cannot wait, Christmas trees are on the list of things the Kimpton Park Way recycling centre accepts (Sutton Council, what is accepted), though you need a booked slot to take one there by car.
The tip over Christmas
The Household Reuse and Recycling Centre at Kimpton Park Way, SM3 9QH, publishes its festive hours all year round (Sutton Council, opening times):
| Day | Cars, pedestrians and bikes | Vans and large vehicles |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 24 December (Christmas Eve) | 9am to 12pm | Not stated; Thursdays are normally 9am to 4pm |
| Friday 25 December (Christmas Day) | Closed | Closed |
| Saturday 26 December (Boxing Day) | Closed | Closed |
| Monday 28 December (bank holiday) | 9am to 5pm | No access on bank holidays |
| Friday 1 January (New Year’s Day) | Closed | Closed |
Every car visit must be booked in advance, up to 14 days ahead. Our Sutton tip opening times page has the booking rules, the 24-visit limit and what to bring.
How to check your own dates
The council’s WasteWorks lookup gives each address its next collections, a PDF calendar and a calendar feed you can add to your phone. We downloaded the feed for a Tuesday-round address on 25 September and it ran only as far as Tuesday 22 December, so the festive fortnight is not in it yet. When those dates do appear, bear in mind that last year’s changes came by leaflet on 17 December; a Christmas Day date showing in the lookup before then is not the council confirming it.
What is still to be confirmed
- The revised collection days for 21 December 2026 to 8 January 2027: expected mid-December.
- The Christmas tree collection dates for January 2027: expected in the same leaflet.
- Whether the vans-only hours at the tip change on Christmas Eve.
Sources: London Borough of Sutton news, garden waste, recycling centre and WasteWorks pages, and National Rail’s Christmas and New Year 2026/27 notice, all read on 25 September 2026. The link to last year’s leaflet on the council’s news item now returns a “page not found”, so its dates could not be reproduced here.
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