RESIDENTS across Dorset have been warned of changes to their bin collections over Christmas and the New Year.

Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset councils have cancelled all collections on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

In Bournemouth, catch-up collections will take place between December 22 and January 5.

Bins due to be collected on Christmas Eve will be collected on December 22 while those on Christmas Day will switch to Christmas Eve.

From Boxing Day, bin collections will take place one day later than usual until January 5.

Each household that needs to put their bin out before their usual collection day will be receive a reminder in the form of a ‘bin hanger’ with the full list of collection days and alternative collection days included.

Bins will need to be taken out by 5am on the day of the collection and any additional waste and Christmas trees can be taken to Millhams Community Recycling Centre which will be open during the festive season apart from Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

A spokesperson for Bournemouth council said: "In addition, residents are being encouraged to ‘feed their caddy’ should any Bussell sprouts or other festive food remain uneaten, with free compostable liners available from local libraries. Alternatively, planning meals in advance will lower the amount of food wasted and leave the food caddy with room to spare."

In Dorset, there will be no change to collections on Christmas Eve but collections that would usually take place between December 25 and January 5 will be two days' late apart from if the collection would usually take place on a Friday when a catch-up collection will take place on the following Monday instead. From January 7, collections will take place one day later until January 14.

The authority said it will collected up to two extra sacks of rubbish left beside residents' bins on the first collection after Christmas Day. Extra recycling will be collected if left in a box. No garden waste collections will take place between Christmas Day and January 8.

Household recycling centres will be open daily between 10am and 4pm apart from Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.

Residents in Poole can check their collections dates by entering their postcode into the Borough of Poole website.