Solihull Christmas Bin Collections: Friday Rounds Move

Solihull Council has not yet published its Christmas and New Year 2026 collection dates. The calendar tells you who will be affected, though. This year Christmas Day and New Year’s Day both fall on a Friday, and the Boxing Day bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December. Last year only the Thursday and Friday rounds were moved, and the year before only Wednesday and Thursday. So if your bins go out on a Friday, expect new dates this Christmas.

This is also the first Christmas with fortnightly black bins, which started on 5 October 2026, so how the council handles extra rubbish will matter more than usual.

The quick answer

• 2026 dates: not published yet. In 2024 the council’s Christmas page was online by 2 December. We will update this page when it appears.
• Friday rounds are the ones to watch. No collections are likely on Friday 25 December or Friday 1 January. Whether Monday 28 December rounds run is not yet known.
• Last year, missed days were made up on Saturdays, and recycling was brought forward to the days before Christmas.
• Bickenhill tip keeps winter hours from 1 November: 9.00am to 4.00pm most days, booking required. The council has listed no Christmas closure dates.

What changed last Christmas

These are Solihull’s own tables for 2025/26, not this year’s. We publish them because they show exactly how the council rearranges a lost day.

Normal collections resumed on Thursday 15 January and Friday 9 January respectively. Source: Solihull Council’s pages for Thursday and Friday collections, as archived on 18 December 2025. The council has since taken last year’s pages down, so the archived copies are the record.

In 2024, when Christmas Day fell on a Wednesday, the council said there would be no collections on Wednesday 25 December, Thursday 26 December or Wednesday 1 January, and that Monday, Tuesday and Friday collections would continue as scheduled (Solihull Council, Christmas and New Year collection dates 2024, archived). The rule in both years is the same: only the rounds that land on a bank holiday move.

What that means for Christmas 2026

The bank holidays this year are Friday 25 December, Monday 28 December (the substitute day for Boxing Day, which is a Saturday) and Friday 1 January 2027. On last year’s pattern:

• Friday rounds lose two collection days and should expect both rubbish and recycling to move.
• Monday rounds are the unknown. Solihull collected as normal on the August bank holiday, Monday 31 August, but it has never had to decide a Monday Christmas bank holiday under fortnightly black bins.
• Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday rounds were unaffected in the equivalent position last year.

That is our reading of the council’s own past practice, not a council announcement. Check Solihull’s bin collection calendar once the council publishes its changes; it shows your next date for each bin.

Extra rubbish, trees and timing

In 2024 the council collected extra rubbish in tied black bags next to your bin between 27 December and 2 January, and stopped from 3 January. Last year it took extra bagged rubbish on the rearranged Thursday and Friday rubbish collections. It has not said whether it will do the same now black bins are emptied every two weeks.

The standing advice from the council’s Christmas pages:

• Put everything out by 6.00am. Crews may come at different times over the holiday period.
• Wait until after 4.00pm before reporting a missed collection.
• There is no limit on recycling, but extra recycling must go in a suitable container such as your old black box or a hessian bag, not carrier bags or cardboard boxes.
• Break down cardboard so it would fit in the brown bin.
• Real Christmas trees can be cut up and put in your green garden waste bin, with stumps no wider than 7.5cm, or taken to Bickenhill. The council tells subscribers to check their calendar for when garden waste collections restart in January.

Food waste collections, weekly since 5 October, are new this year, and the council has not yet said how they will be handled over the bank holidays. Our Solihull bin collection days page covers what goes in each bin and the fortnightly change.

Bickenhill tip over Christmas

Bickenhill Household Waste and Recycling Centre, Coventry Road, B92 0DY, switches to winter hours on 1 November (Solihull Council, Bickenhill HWRC):

You must book a 15-minute slot, and bring proof you live in Solihull. Slots are released daily on a rolling three-week basis, so book early for the week after Christmas. Vans and cars with larger trailers need a permit, and permit holders cannot visit on Sundays or bank holidays.

The council’s page lists no Christmas or New Year closure dates, and its archived December 2025 and January 2026 versions did not list any either. We will add them here if they are published.

Still to be confirmed

• The 2026 changed dates for Friday rounds, and whether Monday 28 December rounds run. Expected late November or early December.
• Whether extra bagged rubbish will be collected now that black bins are fortnightly.
• How the new weekly food waste collections move over the bank holidays.
• Any Christmas closure of Bickenhill tip.

For road closures that can hold up collections, see our Solihull roadworks page. Council parking over the holidays, including the council’s suspension of single yellow line enforcement last Christmas, is on our Solihull Christmas trains and travel page and our parking in Solihull guide.