Residents in County Durham are being reminded of some changes to rubbish and recycling collections over the Christmas period.

Bin collections across the county will take place as normal up to and including Thursday, 24 December 2020.

Changes will only apply to Friday collections, which fall on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day this year. Those collections will instead take place on Monday, 28 December and Monday, 4 January 2021.

Normal collections will resume on Tuesday, 5 January.

Residents are also being reminded not to overfill their glass recycling boxes over the festive period and put out their glass box for every collection to spread out the amount of glass to be collected.

Meanwhile, the council is once again offering to collect real Christmas trees free of charge. Residents can book their new year collection by visiting www.durham.gov.uk/christmastreecollections or calling 03000 260 000, before Thursday, 7 January.

Residents are being urged to book a collection, or take their real tree to any of the council’s Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs), as it is an offence to deposit unwanted trees on the roadside or in an unlicensed area. A collection point will not be available from the Morrisons car park in Barnard Castle this year.

Further information about HWRC locations and opening hours can be found at www.durham.gov.uk/hwrc.

Festive refuse and recycling information can also be found on the ‘My Durham’ section of the council’s website if residents enter their house number and postcode: www.durham.gov.uk/mydurham.

Residents can also keep up-to-date with any changes to council services by following @durhamcouncil on twitter or /durhamcouncil on Facebook.