No Mid Sussex bins on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year's Day. The 2026 dates are not out yet; last year's table and the 24 tree drop-off sites are here.

Mid Sussex District Council has not yet published its Christmas and New Year bin dates for 2026. What is certain is that there are no collections on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day, and that the rest of the fortnight shifts. Last year’s full table is below as a guide to the pattern.

The quick answer

  • No collections on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day. Everything else over the fortnight moves, usually by a day.
  • The 2026 dates are not published yet. Last year they appeared on the council’s bin collection page between mid November and mid December.
  • Christmas trees are not collected from the kerb. Last year there were 24 drop-off sites across the district for two weeks from New Year.

This year’s calendar is an awkward one

Christmas Day 2026 is a Friday, Boxing Day a Saturday, and New Year’s Day 2027 another Friday. So households whose normal day is Friday lose it twice in a week, and those are the addresses most likely to see a Saturday collection or a knock-on into the following week. That is our reading of the calendar, not a council statement.

Outside Christmas, bank holidays change nothing in Mid Sussex. The council’s own wording is that “collection dates repeat in the same pattern throughout the year. The only exception is at Christmas and New Year which is subject to temporary changes.” (Mid Sussex District Council, Bin Collection)

Our bin collection days page explains the 1, 2, 3 cycle (food weekly, recycling fortnightly, black bin every three weeks) and how to find your own day.

What the council did last Christmas

These are 2025/26 dates, not this year’s. They are here because they show how the council handles the gap: each lost day moves forward to the next working day, and Saturdays are used to catch up.

Normal collection day Festive collection day (2025/26)
Thursday 25 December Saturday 27 December
Friday 26 December Monday 29 December
Monday 29 December Tuesday 30 December
Tuesday 30 December Wednesday 31 December
Wednesday 31 December Friday 2 January
Thursday 1 January Saturday 3 January
Friday 2 January Monday 5 January
Monday 5 January Tuesday 6 January
Tuesday 6 January Wednesday 7 January
Wednesday 7 January Thursday 8 January
Thursday 8 January Friday 9 January
Friday 9 January Saturday 10 January

Source: the council’s bin collection page as archived on 15 December 2025 (Wayback Machine copy of midsussex.gov.uk). The changes applied to food waste, general waste and recycling. The knock-on ran for more than two weeks, to Saturday 10 January.

The year before that tells the same story. For Christmas 2023 the council published its table on 24 November, with changes running from 23 December to Saturday 6 January and garden waste stopping after 22 December until 8 January (Mid Sussex District Council, 24 November 2023).

Garden waste

Garden waste is a paid subscription with 25 collections a year, and the two it does not make are over Christmas and New Year. Expect a two-week break again; the exact dates come with the festive table. (Mid Sussex District Council, Garden Waste)

Christmas trees: 24 drop-off sites, not the kerb

In December 2025 the council was blunt: “Christmas trees should not be left by the kerb, as they won’t be collected.” Real trees could go in a garden waste bin if cut down so the lid closes, or to temporary drop-off sites with all decorations removed (Mid Sussex District Council, 22 December 2025).

Last winter’s list had 24 sites, open for about two weeks from New Year. The council’s own dates did not quite agree with each other: the news release said the sites opened on 31 December, while the tree page said “Wednesday 1 January until Wednesday 15 January 2026” (1 January 2026 was a Thursday). Either way, it was a fortnight starting at New Year. The 2025/26 sites were:

Town or village Site
Albourne Village Hall car park, The Street, BN6 9DJ
Ardingly Recreation Ground car park, High Street, RH17 6TB
Ashurst Wood John Pears Field car park, Wall Hill Road, RH19 3TQ
Bolney Batchelors Field Recreation Ground car park, The Street, RH17 5PF
Burgess Hill Cyprus Road car park, Crescent Road, RH15 8EF
Burgess Hill Leylands Park Recreation Ground car park, Maple Drive, RH15 8DL
Copthorne Humphrys Field Recreation Ground, Borers Arms Road, RH10 3LJ
Crawley Down The Haven Sports Field car park, Hophurst Lane, RH10 4LJ
Cuckfield Whitemans Green Recreation Ground, RH17 5DA
East Grinstead Imberhorne Lane car park, RH19 1TZ
East Grinstead Chequer Mead car park, Church Lane, RH19 3AZ
Handcross Recreation Ground car park, High Street, RH17 6BJ
Hassocks Dale Avenue car park, BN6 8LW
Haywards Heath The Woodside Pavilion car park, 120 Middle Village, RH16 4GJ
Haywards Heath Beech Hurst Gardens car park, Butlers Green Road, RH16 4BB
Haywards Heath Heath Road car park, RH16 3BB
Horsted Keynes Recreation Ground car park, Chapel Lane, RH17 7AF
Hurstpierpoint Trinity Road car park, BN6 9UY
Lindfield Common Bowling Green car park, Backwoods Lane, RH16 2ED
Poynings Rushfield Plant Centre, Henfield Road, BN45 7AY
Sayers Common Berrylands Farm Recreation Ground car park, BN6 9XH
Scaynes Hill Scaynes Hill Common car park, Church Road, RH17 7NH
Turners Hill Recreation Ground car park, Mount Lane, RH10 4RA
West Hoathly Finche Field car park, Church Hill, RH19 4PN

Source: Mid Sussex District Council, Christmas Tree Recycling Sites, as archived 22 December 2025. The live page has since been taken down. Treat the list as last year’s until the council republishes it.

What goes in which bin over Christmas

From the council’s December 2025 advice: bones, carcasses and vegetable peelings go in the food waste caddy; cardboard boxes are recyclable; wrapping paper, which usually contains plastic, and tinsel go in the black bin.

The tip over Christmas

West Sussex County Council, not the district, runs the tips. Last winter every recycling centre closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, and every visit by car needs a booked slot. Opening days for Burgess Hill and East Grinstead are on our Mid Sussex tip opening times page.

What is still to be confirmed

  • The 2026/27 festive collection table. Last year it was on the bin collection page by 15 December, and in 2023 it went out on 24 November. We will add it here as soon as it appears.
  • The garden waste break dates.
  • The 2026/27 Christmas tree drop-off sites and dates.

Other Christmas pages: Christmas trains and buses and school term dates. Parking over the festive period is on our parking page.

Sources