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The festive period is the busiest time of year for our crews and last year over 474 tonnes of extra recycling was collected in North Somerset.
The busiest day was Saturday 28 December when crews collected 56 per cent more recycling than usual.
So please remember to check your calendar and put out your recycling and waste on the right day.
Check your dates on our website or download the free North Somerset Council app.
Tree-cycling is back
When the festive lights dim and the decorations come down, what happens to your real Christmas tree? Why not give it an eco-friendly second life this year?
We are teaming up with Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm for their much-loved tree recycling project - now in its sixth year! Since the scheme began, an incredible 10,000 trees have been repurposed and last year alone saw a record-breaking 3,500 trees recycled. This time, the team is aiming even higher - 5,000 trees.
Where do all these trees go?
Animal enrichment: Many of the zoo’s residents adore the seasonal scents and textures. For animals like big cats and bears, these trees provide sensory stimulation and play opportunities.
Land regeneration: Trees that aren’t used for habitats are chipped and mulched to improve soil health across the zoo site. Nothing goes to waste.
To make this happen, we are working with our contractor Glendale Services who are providing a dedicated team on-site at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm to help facilitate the tree recycling process. It’s a true community effort.
This initiative is more than just recycling – it’s part of our Climate Emergency Action Plan, helping to:
- reduce methane-producing organic waste
- cut transport and emissions
- promote natural recycling
- support sustainable land management.
And it doesn’t stop there. We are also backing charity tree collections by Weston Hospicecare and St Peter’s Hospice, which have raised over £64,000 for vital local services.
How can you get involved?
- Drop your tree off at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm between Saturday 27 December and Sunday 25 January.
Book a charity collection:
Weston Hospicecare – book by Tuesday 6 January for collections on Saturday 10 January. Book on the Weston Hospicecare website.
St Peter’s Hospice – book by Sunday 4 January for collections between Friday 9 January and Sunday 11 January. Book on the St Peter’s Hospice website.
Council garden waste customers: Leave your tree out for your first scheduled January collection.
So, this January, don’t let your real tree go to waste - let it bring joy to animals and help the environment too.
Collection dates
Over the Christmas period collection dates will be slightly different to allow for the bank holidays. To stay up to date you can check your calendar on our website follow the recycling and waste Facebook page and you can sign up to the North Somerset Council app to receive your collection reminders and check what to do with items if you’re not sure whether they can be recycled.
This applies to both recycling and black bin collections. Garden waste collections resume with monthly collections from the week beginning Monday 12 January 2026.
If you have extra recycling which doesn’t fit in your containers, please separate it into individual materials and place in carrier bags or another box. For crew safety, we ask that you please put all glass bottles and jars in your recycling box and make sure they are visible.
Collection vehicles may look a little different over the festive period and some materials, such as cardboard or glass, may be collected at a different time by a different vehicle as we deal with the bigger volumes of recycling.
You can also take extra recycling to your nearest recycling centre if you want it removed sooner. Please check opening times before visiting any of the recycling centres. There is no booking system in place yet.
It’s a wrap
All wrapping paper, even if the roll says ‘recyclable’, should go in your black bin.
Please don’t put any wrapping paper in your recycling box this Christmas.
Wrapping paper is difficult to recycle because there are so many varieties and most are mixed with unrecyclable items such as foil, glitter, ribbon and tape.
Why not choose alternatives to wrapping paper such as brown paper?
This can be decorated with stamps and then recycled with cardboard as long as the tape is removed.
Real Christmas trees
If you’re buying a real tree, you’ll need a plan to recycle it afterwards.
We collect real Christmas trees (up to two metres high and minus the pot and decorations) from properties signed up to the garden waste service. Chop it up and put it in your bin or put it out next to your garden waste bin on your first garden waste collection in January.
Trees can also be taken to any of the three recycling centres in North Somerset, at Weston-super-Mare, Backwell and Portishead.
Update on booking system
Our recycling centre booking system is coming soon.
Weston-super-Mare will be the first site to benefit. From Monday 2 February, you’ll need to book a slot before visiting. Same-day slots will be available so those last minute trips will be covered for those who need them.
From Monday 2 March, the same system will be in place for the Portishead and Backwell sites.
If you already have a permit, we’ll contact you before the new system starts to explain how your permit will work with the changes.
You can find out more about the new booking system on our website and look out for signs at the sites closer to the launch dates.
What to do with recycling and waste in severe weather
Severe winter weather could impact on recycling and waste collections if crews are faced with icy conditions or snowy roads. Here’s the advice to follow if collections are disrupted this winter:
- General waste: put your black bin or bags out on your collection day. If it’s not collected, leave it out and crews will be back as soon as possible
- Food caddy and recycling boxes: put these out on your day. If not collected by 7pm, take them in and put them out again the following week on your normal day
- Garden waste: put out on your day. If not emptied, take them back in then put out again the following month on your scheduled day.
How you can help:
- Put bins and containers out by 6.30am on your collection day
- Please wash, squash and sort your recycling
- Remove all packaging from inside large cardboard boxes and flatten and break up the cardboard to the size of your recycling box
- Extra non-recyclable waste that doesn’t fit in your black bin won’t be collected and should be taken to a recycling centre or stored until your next collection
- Download the free North Somerset Council app to get real time notifications about your collections
- If collections are missed from a whole street, you can check our missed roads report on our website to see if we already know about it.
Garden waste collections over winter
A reminder for all garden waste customers that the frequency of garden waste collections reduces to monthly during the winter months - December, January and February.
You can check your collection dates and download your new collection calendar for 2025-2026 on our website.
You can still sign up to get your garden waste collected between now and the end of March, for just £30.
The offer’s open until Friday 2 January 2026 but the sooner you sign-up, the more collections you’ll get.
Eligible households are also able to get financial support with a 75 per cent discount on this offer, bringing the price down to just £7.50!
Find out more and sign-up on our website.
This isn’t a pre-payment for the next financial year starting next April. Renewals for that will open in February.
Seasonal waste – dealing with cardboard mountains
In the next few weeks, we will start seeing a huge rise in the amount of cardboard we collect. While you are seeing adverts everywhere for festive deals and shopping for Christmas, please do consider alternatives such as experience gifts, preloved items and shopping locally.
If you do make any big online purchases, we ask that you break down cardboard boxes until they are flat and fit into a recycling box. This is important as it means that crews can fit your cardboard into the compartment on the collection vehicle. If you have vast quantities of cardboard, please take this to your local recycling centre if possible.
Festive food waste
We produce more food waste at Christmas than any other time of the year.
Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without the food but it’s important to make the most of what we buy. Reducing food waste can help save you money and be kinder to the environment at same time.
If you’re looking for inspiration for festive food and meals to make using festive leftovers, such as the recipe below, then visit the Love Food Hate Wastewebsite!
Here’s one delicious recipe to try – cranberry turkey pasties.
Serves six
Prep/cook time: 30-45 minutes
Ingredients:
200g leftover roast turkey, diced
500g pack shortcrust pastry
2 tbsp cranberry sauce
6 leftover stuffing balls, roughly chopped - around 140g
50g low fat soft cheese
75g frozen peas, defrosted
1 medium egg, beaten.
Recipe:
- Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6.
- Roll out the pastry and cut 6 x 17cm circles.
- Mix together the turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, soft cheese and peas and divide between the pastry circles. Brush the pastry edges with egg. Bring the edges up and press to seal well to form a pasty shape. Freeze any extra pastries in an airtight container at this point.
- Place the pasties on a baking tray, sealed edges facing up and brush with the egg. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden.