Christmas And New Year Holiday Arrangements

The Civic Centre and other Council offices and departments will be closed from 2pm on Wednesday 24th December 2025 until 8.30am on Friday 2nd January 2026.

Christmas Opening Hours - Registrars

The Register Office will be closed from 12.30 pm on Wednesday, 24 December 2025 and will re-open at 8.30 am on Monday, 29 December 2025.  The Register Office will also be closed from 4.00 pm Wednesday, 31 December 2025 and will re-open at 8.30 am on Friday, 2 January 2026.

For urgent enquiries, please call our Emergency out of hours telephone number, 01685 385231.

Refuse and Recycling Collections

Your collection days over the festive period:

Bulky Household Waste Collections

There will be no bulky collections throughout the Christmas period.

The last day of collections will be Wednesday 24 December and they will resume on Monday 5 January.

Sharps and Dialysis

Sharps and dialysis collections will change over Christmas. If your collection is due on Friday 26 December, this collection will be brought forward to Wednesday 24 December. Collections will resume as normal on Friday 2 January 2026

Christmas Tree Recycling

Real Christmas trees will be collected on a request basis only.

Booking is available from Monday 8 December 2025 until Monday 5 January 2026.

How to book:

Online: merthyr.gov.uk/book-a-christmas-tree-collection

Telephone: 01685 725000 (during office hours)

Collections will begin on Wednesday 7 January 2026 for a two-week period only. Trees must be cut into manageable pieces, no longer than 1.5meters and no heavier than 25kg.

Real Christmas trees can also be recycled at the Household Recycling Centres (HRCs)

Household Recycling Centres (HRCs)

Our HRCs will be closed on Thursday 25 December 2025 and Friday 26 December 2025, and Thursday 1 January 2026. Dowlais HRC is closed every Tuesday and Aberfan HRC is closed every Wednesday. Normal winter opening times 9am-4.30pm (last entry 4.20pm) apply on all other dates.

Recycling

Please recycle all you can over the festive period at the kerbside or HRCs.

Top tips:

• Brown paper is classed as packaging and can be recycled in your cardboard box only
• Plain Christmas cards can be recycled in your cardboard recycling box (any parts of the card with glitter, bows, ribbons or embellishments will need to be removed and placed in the non-recyclable bin).
• To prevent waste, use reusable gift bags instead of wrapping paper this year
• Plain recyclable wrapping paper can be placed out in your paper recycling box – non-recyclable shiny or glitter wrapping paper must be placed in the grey wheeled waste bin due to the variety of mixed materials found on these products.
• Reduce food waste and save money by stock checking what food you already have at home and making a list of what you need when shopping, check and choose long use by dates, plan meals with leftovers.
• Donate any in date, unopened food which you won’t eat to local food banks
• Recycle all food that cannot be eaten including mouldy food, bones, peelings, and plate scrapings in your lockable food waste bin
• Please fold down or break up cardboard boxes so they fit in the recycling box, please remove all other packaging before recycling.
• Don’t forget to recycle your batteries on the kerbside by obtaining a purple battery bag from your local library, leisure centre, civic buildings, the Town Centre Hub, the New Lease of Life reuse shop or HRCs.
• Recycle any broken or obsolete electric lights or small electronic decorations at the kerbside. All small electrical items (which will fit inside a recycling box can be placed in a carrier bag at the side of or on top of your recycling boxes. Larger electrical items can be recycled at the HRCs
• Recycle your food and drink cans, clean foil, plastic bottles tubs and trays in the blue bag.
• Recycle glass bottles and jars in your glass recycling box
• Having a pre or post-Christmas clear out? Donate any good, clean, reusable items to the New Lease of Life reuse shop in Pentrebach CF48 4DR.

To check your collection day, check what can and can’t be recycled or any other waste and recycling related information, please visit our pages on the council website www.merthyr.gov.uk/recycling

You can also join our new Facebook page ‘Merthyr Tydfil Recycles’ (or ‘Merthyr Tudful Yn Ailgylchu for information in Welsh)

You can also email us at wasteservices@merthyr.gov.uk (Please note, emails will only be answered during office hours)

A New Lease of Life reuse shop

Unit 20, Merthyr Tydfil Industrial Park, Pentrebach, Merthyr Tydfil CF48 4DR.
Christmas and New Year opening times:

MTCBC cemetery office opening hours Christmas 2025:

Cemetery opening times

MTCBC cemeteries are open for pedestrian access 24 hrs a day

Winter opening and closing times for Vehicle access.

1st October - 31st March

Burial arrangements will be as follows:

If you find any difficulty with these arrangements please telephone the Bereavement Services Office on 01685 725145/07714140268.

All MTCBC cemeteries are open to the public every day of the year, weather permitting.

Libraries Opening Times

All Merthyr Tydfil Public Libraries will be closed from 12:30pm on Wednesday December 24th and will re-open on their regular hours on Friday January 2nd.

Museum Opening Times

Significant restoration work is set to rejuvenate Cyfarthfa Castle, with major improvements scheduled to commence in January. As a result, the museum and tearooms will be temporarily closed from 4pm on 23^rd of December however, the castle grounds will remain open for public enjoyment.

The re-opening date will be shared as soon as possible.