The council’s Christmas tree collection service begins on Monday. The council and rubbish contractors Veolia are just not saying when, or where
Dumping ground: and a happy new year from Croydon Council
Council collections of Christmas trees are due to begin on Monday, and will continue for a fortnight, until Friday, January 16. After that, if you haven’t left your tree out for disposal, you’re stuck with it.
The council and their rubbish contractors, Veolia, effectively allow the fly tipping of thousands of fir trees on our streets at this time of year. So watch out if you are trying to navigate the pavements.
On the council website, they helpfully point out that the service is for “real Christmas trees (not plastic)”.
The council offers no information on when Veoli’s trucks will be touring particular areas to scoop up the no-longer-wanted trees. It could be sometime. It could be never.
“Put your tree out by Monday January 5 – it will be collected as soon as possible by Friday January 16,” they say.
“Remove all decorations, lights, pots, and stands,” they add.
This is where it all gets a bit tricksy. “Place your tree at the edge of your property, clearly visible from the road, without blocking pavements or access routes.” So, at the edge of a property (and we know so well how Veolia will never stray on to private property…), and visible, yet not blocking pavements. Good luck with that.
Special service: according to the council’s unreliable website, there were green waste collections scheduled for Christmas day
Most council services have been shut down since December 24 at least. Libraries and leisure centres should be back to normal operating hours by now – although there was some suggestion (as yet unconfirmed) that at least one public library closed early on Friday for “health and safety reasons”, because there had been a light sprinkling of snow in the morning.
The council’s contact centre, which is supposed to be there to offer assistance on a range of council-related issues from Council Tax to parking permits to housing, was closed for a longer period than in 2024-2025. With fewer front-line staff after years of cuts under Katherine Kerswell, finding holiday cover must be a real test for the council’s middle managers.
Veolia’s services won’t be back to their regular schedule before the end of next week.
Until January 9, “waste collection dates will be delayed either by one, two or three days,” the council says.
One lucky householder thought they’d hit the jackpot, though, when they looked up their address on the council’s website to find that they had a green waste collection scheduled for December 25. Happy Christmas, indeed.
“Festive recycling newsletters have been delivered and can be downloaded from our website,” the council claimed – though deliveries of hard copies of information which might actually be of some use to residents has been, according to some readers, about as reliable as Del Boy’s Reliant Robin.
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Blocking the pavement for a few days with your Christmas tree – not OK.
Blocking the pavement permanently with your wheely bins – OK.
“It is illegal to obstruct roads, pavements and footpaths. We can take legal action against people who cause them.” So says Merton Council. In Croydon, they just don’t bother
I have been waiting nearly a month for 2 library books I reseved to be ready for me to pick up. One is ‘pending’ and the other is in ‘transit’ and has been for nearly a month. I asked at Croydon Central Library when they would be ready and was told they couldn’t say or give me any idea! I think this is pretty poor service but what I would expect in Croydon. Hopefully they will be ready in time for next Christmas!
Clearly the council needs to turn over a new leaf (needle). Or branch out into running a local authority instead of a back-slapping operation. Happpy New Year