Practical · Updated 2026-11-13
Bank holidays shuffle refuse, recycling and food waste. Use the table for Babergh, Mid Suffolk and West Suffolk; Ipswich and East Suffolk need your street calendar. Plus how to report a missed bin.
Put bins out by 6am. Not sure which council? Find my Suffolk council or the bin day checker.
Official 2026–27 schedules: refuse, paper & card, recycling and food waste. Mon 21–Thu 24 Dec stay as normal.
| Usual day | Collect on | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Fri 25 Dec 2026 | Tue 29 Dec 2026 | 4 days later |
| Mon 28 Dec 2026 | Wed 30 Dec 2026 | 2 days later |
| Tue 29 Dec 2026 | Thu 31 Dec 2026 | 2 days later |
| Wed 30 Dec 2026 | Sat 2 Jan 2027 | 3 days later |
| Thu 31 Dec 2026 | Mon 4 Jan 2027 | 4 days later |
| Fri 1 Jan 2027 | Tue 5 Jan 2027 | 4 days later |
| Mon 4 Jan 2027 | Wed 6 Jan 2027 | 2 days later |
| Tue 5 Jan 2027 | Thu 7 Jan 2027 | 2 days later |
| Wed 6 Jan 2027 | Fri 8 Jan 2027 | 2 days later |
| Thu 7 Jan 2027 | Sat 9 Jan 2027 | 2 days later |
| Fri 8 Jan 2027 | Mon 11 Jan 2027 | 3 days later |
| Mon 11 Jan 2027 | Tue 12 Jan 2027 | 1 day later |
| Tue 12 Jan 2027 | Wed 13 Jan 2027 | 1 day later |
| Wed 13 Jan 2027 | Thu 14 Jan 2027 | 1 day later |
| Thu 14 Jan 2027 | Fri 15 Jan 2027 | 1 day later |
| Fri 15 Jan 2027 | Sat 16 Jan 2027 | 1 day later |
Garden waste (Babergh / Mid Suffolk): Fri 25 Dec moves to Tue 29 Dec; then no garden rounds 28 Dec–10 Jan; restart Mon 11 Jan 2027. West Suffolk: confirm garden rounds in Find my nearest.
Sources: Babergh PDF, Mid Suffolk PDF, West Suffolk.
Ipswich publishes per-street calendars. Around Christmas, some collections move (for example Thursday rounds collecting on Wednesday 23 December in 2026 on sample streets). Brown bins are not collected for two weeks over Christmas — leave real trees for the garden-waste restart if your subscription allows.
Check: Ipswich bin collection days.
With three-weekly refuse and recycling, getting the Christmas date wrong can mean a long wait. The council says all collections change over Christmas/New Year — use the official finder for your address rather than last year’s table (bank holidays fall on different weekdays in 2026).
Babergh, Mid Suffolk and West Suffolk collect as normal up to Thursday 24 December 2026, then shift collections 1–4 days later until Saturday 16 January 2027. Normal rounds resume Monday 18 January 2027. Ipswich and East Suffolk publish street-level calendars — check your address in their date finders.
No. Friday 25 December is Christmas Day. On Babergh, Mid Suffolk and West Suffolk, that round moves to Tuesday 29 December. Other councils also skip the bank holidays — use your council calendar.
Often paused. Babergh and Mid Suffolk: Friday 25 December garden round moves to Tuesday 29 December, then no garden waste from 28 December to 10 January, back Monday 11 January. Ipswich: brown bins not collected for two weeks over Christmas — check your street calendar. West Suffolk: use Find my nearest for garden rounds.
Report it online to your district council, usually within 24–48 hours, with the bin left out if safe. Wrong council = delay — confirm which one covers you first.
As of mid-November 2026 the council says collections will change over Christmas/New Year and tells residents to use the bin collection date finder. Last year’s notice landed in December — check that tool closer to the holiday.
Schedules from council notices reviewed 2026-11-13. Always follow your council calendar if anything differs.