Collections missed after 'unprecedented' recycling

5 January 2026

Maisie Lillywhite,Gloucestershireand

Duncan Cook,Gloucestershire

News image — Craig Hammond said he had a large amount of recycling following Christmas festivities

BBC An older man with short grey hair at the back of his scalp, black rectangular rimmed glasses, a red jumper and a black hoodie with a fleecy, patterned interior stands outside of his terraced home in a city suburb on a sunny winter morning, — Craig Hammond said he had a large amount of recycling following Christmas festivities

City residents have been left with full bins for 10 days after a council says its refuse collection crews faced "an unprecedented amount" of recycling.

Some residents of central Gloucester, Tredworth, Linden, and Kingsway were supposed to have their recycling collected on Boxing Day, but were later told it would not be picked up until Monday 5 January.

One Linden resident said she is still waiting for her recycling to be collected, after being told it would be on 3 January.

Gloucester City Council apologised to those affected by the lack of collection which, it added, was "a relatively small number of households".

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Craig Hammond from Tredworth said his bins were "overflowing" with cardboard and cans from the Christmas period.

"Luckily, they came on Friday and got rid of the food waste so at least they've done that," he said.

But Hammond said he was "beginning to doubt" the bins would be collected before Friday, his usual bin day.

In Linden, Jo said the situation with her household waste was "better now" after being horrendous just before Christmas.

Green recycling boxes and a blue bag full of paper to be recycled are left outside a brown garden fence to be collected. There are several carrier bags, also full of recycling, hung upon the fence. — Not all residents in affected parts of Gloucester have missed out on collection days

"There were bags on the side of the bin, it wasn't good at all," she said.

"I thought it was going to be done on Saturday but it hasn't come yet - the black bin got emptied but not the recycling."

Maggie Forsyth, who also lives in Linden, said she "fully sympathises with the bin men" but suggested they could be "more organised".

'We get missed'

"It's pretty dire, if I'm honest," Forsyth said, adding her stretch of Cecil Road "seems to get forgotten".

"I have to be fair with the recycling, [the crews] picked that up the other day and that was absolutely lovely but we do get missed out quite a lot."

Lucy Gabb, another resident, said her recycling was collected fine on Saturday, but she also did a tip run after Christmas.

Two large green bins, which are overflowing with full black bin bags, carrier bags, and cardboard boxes. A large amount of waste has been deposited beside the bins, due to them being full. They are on a wide section of pathway beneath an archway under a block of flats. — Gloucester City Council says it will pick the waste up on Monday "if possible"

A spokesperson for Gloucester City Council apologised for the missed collections, and said its crews have been "working incredibly hard".

"There has been an unprecedented amount [of recycling] this year, which is obviously good news in one way, but means it has taken a little longer to pick up in a few cases than we had hoped," they added.

"The intention is to pick it up on Monday if possible."

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