CHRISTMAS is fast approaching and with it the seasonal confusion over when the council will collect your bins.

With Christmas falling midweek this year, some collections will be earlier than usual while others will be later to accommodate the public holidays on December 25 and 26, and on New Year's Day.

Collections in Widnes and Runcorn won't be back to normal until January 13, so you'll need to be aware of what the changes are, otherwise you could be left with a full bin.

Fortunately, Halton Council has produced a useful guide to help you figure out when you need to leave your bins out, which we have reproduced below.

If your collection is scheduled for December 23 or 24, it will go ahead as normal.

Collections scheduled for December 25, 26 and 27 will happen on December 27, 28 and 30 respectively.

Collections scheduled for December 30 will happen on December 31st.

Collections normally scheduled for January 1, 2 and 3 will take place on January 3, 4 and 6.

All collections for the week beginning Monday January 6 will happen a day later than normal.

Meanwhile, the tips in Johnson’s Lane, Widnes and Picow Farm Road, Runcorn will operate as normal between 8am and 6pm every day except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.