Christmas and New Year's Trash Pickup 2026: Holiday Schedules in 20 U.S. Cities

Christmas Day (Friday, Dec. 25, 2026) and New Year’s Day (Friday, Jan. 1, 2027) both fall on a Friday, so in the cities that have posted, Friday trash pickups move to Saturday, Dec. 26 and Saturday, Jan. 2. Phoenix, Oklahoma City and Charlotte say so for Christmas, and Phoenix and Oklahoma City say so for New Year’s Day, on their official pages read on Nov. 3, 2026. The table says “not yet posted” where a page has nothing for 2026-27.

Christmas and New Year’s trash pickup by city

Christmas Eve is Thursday, Dec. 24. Each row is the city’s own wording, read on Nov. 3, 2026. “2026 only” marks a page that lists last year’s holiday and not the 2027 one.

City	Christmas Day (Fri., Dec. 25)	New Year’s Day (Fri., Jan. 1, 2027)	Source
Phoenix	No collection; Friday routes collected Sat., Dec. 26	No collection; Friday routes collected Sat., Jan. 2	City of Phoenix
Oklahoma City	Makeup day Sat., Dec. 26; Christmas Eve (Thu., Dec. 24) collection as usual	Makeup day Sat., Jan. 2	Oklahoma City utilities
Jacksonville	Friday pickups serviced Sat., Dec. 26, 2026	Regular day, under the city’s rule that schedules change only on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day	Jacksonville Solid Waste
Charlotte	City closed, no collection; Friday routes collected Sat., Dec. 26	2027 schedule not yet posted; in 2026 collection ran as scheduled (2026 only)	City of Charlotte
San Diego	No collection; trash collected one day later for the rest of that week	Not yet posted (list shows Jan. 1, 2026 only)	San Diego Environmental Services
Denver	City-observed holiday; collections delayed one day for the rest of the week	Not yet listed	City and County of Denver
Austin	Standing rule: a collection day on or after the holiday in the same week slides one day later	Same standing rule	City of Austin
San Francisco	Listed as to be determined	Not yet posted (list shows Jan. 1, 2026 only)	Recology San Francisco
Houston	Listed as a city holiday; collection changes not yet posted	Listed as a city holiday; collection changes not yet posted	Houston Solid Waste
Columbus, Ohio	Not yet posted; city rule: collection on or after a holiday is delayed one day	Not yet posted	City of Columbus
Seattle	2026 Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) notice not yet published; the 2025 rule delayed service one day	Not yet published	SPU, 2025 notice
Philadelphia	Not yet posted; the city says collection runs one day behind for the rest of the week after a holiday	Not yet posted	City of Philadelphia

Eight more cities are not yet posted for either holiday on the pages we checked: New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth, San Jose and Indianapolis. That makes 20 cities in all. They are the cities we checked, not a ranking of the largest.

Which cities have confirmed Christmas Day 2026 pickup changes?

Phoenix says “Solid waste collections will not be provided on Christmas Day (Friday, December 25, 2026)” and that residents with a Friday collection day will have trash and recycling collected on Saturday, Dec. 26. Charlotte says the city will be closed on Friday, Dec. 25, with no collection, and that Friday routes run on a one-day delay, collected on Saturday, Dec. 26. Oklahoma City’s table lists Christmas Day, Friday, Dec. 25, with a makeup day of Saturday, Dec. 26. Jacksonville says customers with a Friday pickup will be serviced on Saturday, Dec. 26, 2026.

San Diego lists “Friday, Dec. 25, 2026 – Christmas Day” among the holidays with no collection of trash, recyclables or organic waste, and collects one day later for the remainder of that week. Denver lists Christmas Day, Friday, Dec. 25, under observed holidays with collections delayed one day, and says a collection that falls on or after the holiday is delayed one day for the rest of that week only.

Is trash picked up on New Year’s Day 2027?

Phoenix says collections will not be provided on New Year’s Day (Friday, Jan. 1, 2027), and Friday collections move to Saturday, Jan. 2. Oklahoma City lists New Year’s Day, Friday, Jan. 1, with a makeup day of Saturday, Jan. 2.

Jacksonville’s page says waste collection schedules change only on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, and that for all other holidays waste is collected on the regular day, so we read New Year’s Day as a regular day there. Charlotte’s page covers 2026 only. It says collection ran as scheduled on New Year’s Day 2026, which is not a 2027 rule. San Diego and San Francisco list Jan. 1, 2026 only, and Denver and Philadelphia show nothing for 2027 yet. Austin’s page says that if your collection day falls on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day or New Year’s Day, or after the holiday in the same week, it slides one day later; that standing rule would put Friday routes on Saturday, and My Schedule on the city page shows your address.

For store and service closures on the same days, see Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2026 store hours and what’s open on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day 2027. Whether Dec. 24 is a federal holiday is answered in Is Christmas Eve a federal holiday in 2026?

What do cities without a posted schedule say?

Houston lists Christmas Day, Friday, Dec. 25, and in its 2027 list New Year’s Day, Friday, Jan. 1, as city holidays, but gives no collection text for either yet. Recology San Francisco lists Christmas, Friday, Dec. 25, as to be determined. Columbus has not posted dates; its Oct. 8, 2026 bulletin says that if your collection day falls on or after the holiday, pickup will be delayed one day. Seattle’s 2026 notice is not out; in 2025, SPU said that if a regular collection day falls on a holiday, service is delayed one day. Philadelphia’s city holidays page says collection is one day behind for the rest of the week after a holiday, and Philly311 says collection does not take place on the day of a city-observed holiday; its Christmas and New Year’s 2026 tables are not posted yet.

Holiday trash pickup printable

The one-page printable matrix lays out Dec. 24, Dec. 25, Dec. 26, Jan. 1 and Jan. 2 for the cities with posted dates, Phoenix and Oklahoma City, and lists the cities not yet posted. Mark your own route on the December 2026 printable calendar and the January 2027 printable calendar, and see when is New Year’s Day for the date.

Schedules can change, so check your city’s page and its address lookup before putting bins out.