Exeter's Christmas 2026 bin dates are not out yet; the council publishes them around 10 to 13 December. Last year's full table, tree collections and tips.
Exeter City Council has not published its Christmas 2026 bin dates yet, and on past form it will not until the second week of December. What you can plan around now is the shape of it: on past form, every collection from Christmas Day onwards moves later, the crews work Saturdays to catch up, and the knock-on lasts well into January.
The quick answer
- 2026 dates: not published yet. The council released its festive table on 10 December 2025, 12 December 2024 and 13 December 2023.
- Last year, collections slipped by up to four days, and the knock-on ran until Saturday 17 January 2026.
- Christmas trees are not taken with the black bin. Garden waste customers put them out on their first brown bin collection of the new year.
Checked against Exeter City Council’s own pages on 25 September 2026. We will add the 2026 table the day the council publishes it.
Why 2026 will be awkward
The bank holidays fall on Friday 25 December (Christmas Day), Monday 28 December (the Boxing Day substitute, because 26 December is a Saturday) and Friday 1 January 2027 (Devon County Council term dates calendar, which lists the bank holidays alongside the school dates). That is three bank holidays in five working days.
The council’s standing rule is that “collections following bank holidays take place one day late throughout the week, with the crews working on Saturdays to catch up with Friday collections” (Exeter City Council, collection calendar page). At Christmas it does more than that, and publishes a separate table. Do not work your own dates out from the one-day rule: last year’s table moved some rounds by four days.
Last year’s table, and it is only a guide
These are the 2025/26 dates, when Christmas Day fell on a Thursday. They are not this year’s dates. They show how far the council shifts rounds and how long the knock-on lasts.
| Collection due | Collected instead on |
|---|---|
| Thursday 25 December | Monday 29 December |
| Friday 26 December | Tuesday 30 December |
| Monday 29 December | Wednesday 31 December |
| Tuesday 30 December | Friday 2 January |
| Wednesday 31 December | Saturday 3 January |
| Thursday 1 January | Monday 5 January |
| Friday 2 January | Tuesday 6 January |
| Monday 5 January | Wednesday 7 January |
| Tuesday 6 January | Thursday 8 January |
| Wednesday 7 January | Friday 9 January |
| Thursday 8 January | Saturday 10 January |
| Friday 9 January | Monday 12 January |
| Monday 12 to Friday 16 January | One day late: Tuesday 13 to Saturday 17 January |
Source: Exeter City Council, 10 December 2025. The council’s table ran on past 12 January with each day still one day late, so the whole festive shift took three weeks to wash out.
The 2024/25 table followed the same idea. Wednesday 25 December moved to Friday 27 December and the knock-on ended with Friday 10 January collected on Saturday 11 January (Exeter City Council, 12 December 2024).
Your own dates depend on your round. The per-address collection day lookup and the council’s email reminders are the only way to be certain.
Extra recycling, wrapping paper and cards
Last year the council said it would take extra recycling on green bin day if it is in bags labelled “recycling” with the first line of your address, and that cardboard boxes should be flattened and put beside the green bin (Exeter City Council, 10 December 2025).
Two things go in the black bin, not the green one:
- Wrapping paper. The council says most of it is too poor quality to recycle. Plain brown paper, even printed, is fine if there is no foil or glitter (Exeter City Council, 12 December 2024)
- Christmas cards. Devon’s recycling centres will take cards without glitter or foil
Glass is the usual Exeter trap. It never goes in the green bin, at Christmas or otherwise. Take bottles to a glass bank, and if the bank is full, do not leave them beside it. The bin days page has the full list of what goes where.
Real Christmas trees
A tree put out with the black bin will not be collected, and a tree left in a car park counts as fly-tipping. The council gave three options last year (Exeter City Council, 10 December 2025):
- Garden waste customers put the tree out, with or without the brown bin, on their first garden collection of the new year. The 2026 brown bin season ends on 27 November and restarted on 26 January this year (Exeter City Council)
- Hospiscare collected trees across Exeter for a donation between 8 and 10 January 2026, with registration closing at midnight on 4 January. Its 2027 dates are not out yet
- Take it yourself, free, to Exton Road or Pinbrook Road recycling centre
Recycling centres over Christmas
Both Exeter sites are run by Devon County Council and are closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Winter hours, October to March, are 9am to 4.30pm on weekdays and 10am to 4.30pm at weekends (Devon County Council, Exton Road). Only Pinbrook Road takes sofas and armchairs; the bin days page has the rest of the rules.
Still to be confirmed
- The 2026/27 collection table. Expected from Exeter City Council around 10 to 13 December 2026
- Hospiscare’s 2027 tree collection dates, expected in December
Getting around at Christmas as well? See Christmas trains and buses from Exeter, parking in Exeter and Exeter roadworks.
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