Refuse & Recycling

Christmas Information

Over the Christmas period, there will be scheduled changes to bin collections:

PLEASE NOTE: Some revised collection days will be earlier than their usual date.

  • Tuesday 22 December 2026 is now Saturday 19 December 2026.
  • Wednesday 23 December 2026 is now Tuesday 22 December 2026.
  • Thursday 24 December 2026 is now Wednesday 23 December 2026.
  • Friday 25 December 2026 is now Thursday 24 December 2026.
  • Tuesday 29 December 2026: No change.
  • Wednesday 30 December 2026: No change.
  • Thursday 31 December 2026: No change.
  • Friday 1 January 2027 is now Saturday 2 January 2027.

Tis the season to recycle as much of your Christmas waste as possible to prevent it going to landfill.

Keep any wrapping paper from Christmas morning and put it out for recycling in your green bin, apart from foil wrapping paper which cannot be recycled. The easy way for you to check if your wrapping paper can be recycled or not is by doing the 'scrunch test'. If it stays in a ball, it is paper and can be recycled in your green bin. If it bounces back, it will have metallised plastic film in it so please put in your grey bin.

We can recycle your Christmas cards, just pop them out for collection in your green bin. We cannot recycle cards made with foil, plastic, glitter, or battery-operated cards so place these in your grey general waste bin.

At this time of year you might have more cardboard, paper, plastics and cans/bottles than usual to recycle. Here are some tips to help you maximise the space in your recycling bins;

  • Crush cans
  • Squeeze the air out of plastic bottles
  • Flatten cardboard
  • Keep paper flat

Don’t forget you can also take any extra waste or recycling to your nearest household waste recycling centre, who will be happy to take it off your hands. Visit Lancashire County Council (external link) for opening times for our recycling centres.

Residents in West Lancashire can put clean plastic pots, tubs and trays in their recycling bins at home, along with the plastic bottles, which were already being collected. It means that many more items, including the large plastic tubs containing assorted sweets, can now be recycled.