Waste and recycling - info for the festive season

Residents who bin collections are usually on Thursday or Friday are being made aware of some changes to their schedule due to the festive holidays.

If your green and grey bin day is Thursday or Friday, there are some day changes to be aware of this Christmas and New Year.

• Christmas Day is on Thursday 25 December – bins due then will instead be collected on Saturday 27 December
• Boxing Day is Friday 26 December – those bins will instead be collected on Sunday 28 December
• New Year’s Day is Thursday 1 January 2024. Those bins will instead be collected on Saturday 3 January 2026.

Brown bin collections pause from 22 December and restart on 16 January 2026.

Please put bins out for collection by 7am on your scheduled day.

Merseyside Recycling & Waste Authority (MRWA) and its contractor Veolia have also issued a reminder to local people that while Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) are open most days, they will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

Alongside that information, they have also issued some valuable advice and information about recycling during what traditionally is one of the busiest periods for the HWRCs.

Recycling Centres accept many different kinds of items, such as cans, cardboard, garden waste (including real Christmas trees), glass jars and bottles, paper, large plastics, scrap metal (including metal artificial trees), textiles, toys and white goods. All the centres accept electrical items - don’t forget to remove any batteries and recycle them separately.

If visiting a Recycling Centre in a van or with a large trailer (2-3m) then householders need to make an appointment. Bookings can be made online at www.merseysidewda.gov.uk or by telephone on 0151 255 1444. Visits cannot be booked on the same day.  

As the Recycling Centres are particularly busy at this time of year, MRWA and Veolia are asking householders to consider the following:

• Try and separate your waste before visiting your local Recycling Centre. This way you’ll be able to deposit things more easily and help reduce queues at sites.
• Before placing cardboard in the recycling container make sure to remove polystyrene and flatten any boxes – it will take up less room.
• Don’t fly-tip your waste outside a Recycling Centre as this is illegal and you could be fined or prosecuted.
• Please dispose of old batteries correctly – never put them in your kerbside bins - they can be taken to any Recycling Centre, or alternatively most large shops and supermarkets offer battery recycling points.
• Wrapping paper (not including plastic wrapping) can be recycled using your local council’s kerbside recycling bin, bag or box and at your local Recycling Centre. If your wrapping paper has a decorative / shiny / glossy / glittery surface it should be disposed of in your local council’s kerbside general waste bin.
• Please don’t bring us plastic bags – try to reuse them as much as possible and next time you go shopping why not buy a bag-for-life?
• Avoid putting recyclable items in your general waste bin. If you cut down on this then there’ll be less chance you’ll have excess black bin bags to bring to your Recycling Centre.
• Bring us your cans and bottles – millions of extra drinks cans and bottles are used during the festive period!
• After Christmas you can bring your real Christmas trees to our Recycling Centres where they’ll be shredded and turned into chippings for compost.
• An excess of oil is used over the Christmas period, with festive food such as turkey, roast potatoes and fry-ups on the menu. Used cooking oil tanks can be found at all local Recycling Centres.
• If there are items like toys, electrical items and bric-a-brac you don’t need after Christmas, you could donate them to local charity shops or community groups. Find your nearest here at www.zerowastelcr.com/zero-waste-map/
• Why not make a New Year’s resolution to recycle more often? Visit www.recycleright.org.uk  for more information about what you can and can’t recycle.