Andover Christmas bin collections: 2026 dates not out yet

Test Valley Borough Council has not yet published its Christmas and New Year 2026/27 bin collection days. Its seasonal page, checked on 25 September 2026, says only that the dates “are not available yet”. Until they are, the best guide is what the council did last Christmas, which is set out in full below, and the rules that do not change from year to year.

This page covers every Test Valley household, so Andover, Romsey, Stockbridge, North Baddesley and the villages all follow the same revised schedule.

The quick answer

• 2026/27 dates: not published yet. In 2024 the table was up by 11 September; in 2025 it had still not appeared by 18 October.
• Last Christmas, black bins went out up to two days early, and Monday’s collection moved back to Saturday 20 December.
• Garden waste stops for two weeks over Christmas and New Year, and extra black bin rubbish in a bag is taken on your collection day.

What happened at Christmas 2025

The council’s printed Christmas and New Year bin collections card for 2025/26 moved every household waste round in Christmas week and the recycling rounds from New Year’s Day onwards. Christmas Day 2025 fell on a Thursday.

Garden waste collections did not run between Monday 22 December 2025 and Saturday 3 January 2026. Food waste, collected weekly since the new service started in autumn 2025, moved in line with the same schedule. The card asked for bins at the edge of the property by 7am.

The year before: Christmas 2024

The 2024/25 version of the same page, as archived in November 2024, followed the same pattern. Monday 23 December’s black bins went out on Saturday 21 December, Christmas Day’s moved to Christmas Eve, and Boxing Day’s and the Friday’s rounds slipped a day to Friday 27 and Saturday 28 December. After New Year, Wednesday to Friday recycling rounds each moved a day later, ending on Saturday 4 January 2025. Garden waste stopped from 23 December to 4 January.

What that pattern means for 2026

In 2026 Christmas Day is a Friday, and GOV.UK’s bank holiday list puts the Boxing Day substitute holiday on Monday 28 December and New Year’s Day on Friday 1 January 2027. So Christmas week and New Year week will both carry changes, but the days that move will not match 2025’s. Do not reuse last year’s card: wait for the 2026/27 one. This page will carry it the day the council publishes it.

The rules that stay the same every Christmas

These come from the council’s Christmas and New Year waste page and have not changed between the 2024 and 2026 versions.

• Extra black bin rubbish is collected. Put it in a bag beside your black bin on your household waste day. The crews still empty only one black bin per home.
• Extra recycling goes in cardboard boxes beside the brown bin on your recycling week. Keep it as dry as possible.
• Gift wrap goes in the black bin, not the brown one. The council says most of it is plastic film, foil or low-grade paper covered in tape.
• No side waste for food caddies. One 23 litre caddy is emptied weekly; call 01264 368000 to ask for a second one.
• The tips close on three days only: Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. Hours and the booking rules for Scott Close in Andover are on our Andover bin collection days page.

Christmas tree recycling

Test Valley publishes its tree drop-off sites in December. Last winter the 2025 poster listed nine temporary sites for real trees only, open from Saturday 27 December 2025 to Monday 12 January 2026:

• Enham Arch Retail Park, Andover
• Dobbies Garden Centre, Salisbury Road, Andover
• Hillier Garden Centre, Amesbury Road, Weyhill
• Augusta Park Community Centre, East Anton Farm Road, Andover
• Alma Road car park, near Waitrose, Romsey
• Knightwood Leisure Centre, Valley Park
• B&Q, Nursling
• Village Hall, West Wellow
• Hillier Garden Centre, Jermyns Lane, Braishfield

Take the decorations off first. Garden waste subscribers can instead put the tree out with their brown garden waste bin after the break, cut in half if it is over 6ft.

Still to be confirmed

• The 2026/27 revised collection days. Expected October or November; we will add the table here.
• The 2026/27 tree drop-off sites and dates. Published in December.

To check your normal collection week, use the council’s bin day finder. If you are driving into town for Christmas shopping, see parking in Andover and the latest roadworks.