The countdown to Christmas has well and truly begun!

The shops have started playing Christmas music, festive ads are all over the telly, and Congleton's Christmas decorations are going up.

But perhaps the last thing on people's minds is bin collections!

However, it is an important subject to prevent the house from going to ruin or disorder while the extended family is round.

So to help make Congleton's Christmas a clean and recycling-friendly, our area's borough council has released the dates Xmas bins will be collected.

Please note Congleton: It is not the usual day!

Cheshire East Council will continue to deliver a full waste and recycling collection service across the borough.

Ansa – Cheshire East Council's wholly-owned environmental services company – will be be dealing with the rubbish as ever.

They'll be placing information stickers on black bins of those households whose normal collections fall on the bank holidays and are advising residents of changes to their collection schedule over the Christmas and New Year period.

The great news is, you can still recycle and get rid of household waste.

Don't forget to check what goes where by clicking here .

The bad news is there will be no garden waste collections from Wednesday 22 December to Monday 3 January 2022. Collections will resume as normal on Tuesday 4 January.

This means Christmas leftovers can't be composted by the council for the final days of 2021 and early days of 2022.

To help keep on top of things, perhaps keep food leftovers for eating instead of putting them in the bin, or place food waste in a bin liner ready for your black bin.

Alternatively, you can just store it in the garden waste bin and wait until it can be collected again. If the smell doesn't bother you that is!

A Macclesfield East councillor has clarified on why bin collections won't be happening for plant waste.

Councillor Mick Warren, chair of Cheshire East Council's environment and communities committee, said: "This has been an extraordinarily difficult year for our colleagues doing such outstanding work collecting our borough's waste and recycling.

"We have faced the challenge of working in Covid times with impacts such as a higher than usual rate of employee sickness and our workforce having to self-isolate.

"There has also been a shortage of HGV drivers and an increase in the amount of waste being produced with more people working at home.

"All these factors combined have hit the industry hard and we are extremely grateful for the patience that residents have shown during the disruption.

"Please check these new bin collection arrangements to see if collections are due to fall on the bank holidays over the festive period.

"It's also important to note that it will take a few weeks to sticker bins and that not all households will be affected.

"Some collections will be brought forward, and others pushed back, depending on your normal bin collection day.

"If space in your garden bin is limited, please put your food waste into your black bin as a temporary measure.

"I would like to express my thanks to residents who have carried on recycling and also offer my thanks to our hard-working crews during these difficult times."

The changes will only affect those households that have their household waste or recycling collections on a Monday or a Tuesday.

The last day of Congleton garden waste bin collections before Christmas will be on Tuesday 21 December. They'll resume in Congleton Tuesday 4 January, 2022.

Additionally, there will be no recycling or black bin collections on Monday 27 December (Christmas Bank Holiday), Tuesday 28 December (Boxing Day Bank Holiday) or Monday 3 January, 2022 (New Year's Day Bank Holiday)

Furthermore, if your black bin was due for collection on Monday 27 December, it will now be collected on Thursday 23 December

Or if your black bin was due for collection on Tuesday 28 December, it will now be collected on Wednesday 29 December

Lastly for the black bin, if yours was due for collection on Monday 3 January, it will now be collected on Friday 31 December - the last collection of the year.

Regarding silver bins, if yours was due for collection on Monday 27 December, it will now be collected on Wednesday 22 December

Alternatively, If your silver bin was due for collection on Tuesday 28 December, it will now be collected on Friday 24 December

Finally, if your silver bin was due for collection on Monday 3 January, it will now be collected on Thursday 30 December.

Please ensure your bin is out for 6.30am on all collection days. Please do feel free to wear your Christmas slippers as you take your bins out!

Local household waste and recycling centres will continue to stay open (except for Christmas Day) to accept garden waste and any excess household waste.

There may be added pressures on local waste centres this year, as it is the first Christmas without Congleton tip, which shut in September.

However, please note with the ongoing HGV driver shortage and coronavirus crises, the dates are subject to change.

Bin collections have been rather inconsistent throughout 2020. There have been incidents of missing bins for certain Congleton streets for most of 2021.

Congleton Nub News have submitted a Freedom of information request to ANSA and Cheshire East Council regarding the amount of missed bin collections in our town this year.

Congleton: Are you satisfied with the changes to your Christmas and New Year bin collections?

If you don't know when your bin collection day is this month, you can click here.

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