There’s still plenty of time for community groups, schools and charities to secure up to £1,000 for projects that help Nottinghamshire to reduce, reuse or recycle waste. 

The Reduce, Reuse, Recycling Fund offers funding to groups, schools and charities who are committed to helping Nottinghamshire to think differently about waste.

If you are a not-for-profit organisation in Nottinghamshire (excluding the city of Nottingham) and have an idea or are already running a project that helps to inspire others to take a more conscious approach to waste, you can apply for a grant.

Applications are considered annually, and the next deadline is Friday 4 July 2025.

Easter is now just over a week away and the shops are filling up with lots of chocolate treats.

Around 80 million chocolate Easter eggs are eaten in the UK each year, generating around 4,500 tons of extra packaging.

Remember to recycle any cardboard in your recycling bin at home but please don’t put in any foil wrappers or plastic trays as these cannot be recycled.

Want to check what can be recycled? Use our free Recycling Checker to find out.

Did you know that we offer community groups and schools based in the Nottinghamshire County Council area the chance to visit our Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Mansfield?

If you would like to find out more about what happens to the items you put in your recycling bin at home, come and visit us.

Your visit will include an explanation of how the facility works, the impact of waste on the environment and a site tour to see it all working. Community groups can also book a recycling talk to be given at your meeting venue. All visits and talks are free of charge.

For more information please email nottsenquiries@veolia.co.uk or call 0203 567 4391

This year International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) takes place from 4 to 10 May.

The goal of ICAW is to work together to raise public awareness on why we all should be composting our organic garden and food waste and using compost to create healthier soil.

Home composting is a great way to reduce your waste, improve your garden and reduce your carbon footprint. A year of home composting saves as much CO₂ as the amount produced by your kettle in a year.

We are offering you the chance to win a 2 in 1 tumbling composter worth over £100.

This composter is quick, practical and produces compost three times faster than a conventional compost bin. The compost is ready after six to eight weeks. It also has a system for extracting compost liquid, which is distributed to the plants with a garden hose.

We have one of these fantastic composters to give away to one of our lucky readers!  

These types of wrappers and bags have been around for some years now, but do you know the difference?   Everything that is compostable is also biodegradable. However, not all biodegradable products are compostable.

• Biodegradable refers to any material that breaks down and decomposes in the environment, some of which can leave unwanted waste behind.
• Compostable items are organic matter that breaks down naturally and the end product has beneficial uses such as fertilising soil. This makes compostable items suitable for home composting. If you don’t have a compost bin at home, please put compostable items in your general waste bin.

Please don’t put compostable or biodegradable items in your garden waste bin as they break down much slower than other garden materials.  

Going to one of our recycling centres? Follow our tips to help make your visit quicker:

• Register your vehicle before you visit. This can be done online or by calling our customer service team on 0300 500 80 80
• If you are planning to use a hire van, you need to call our customer service team 24 hours beforehand to arrange
• If you have DIY waste, please familiarise yourself with the DIY waste acceptance criteria, which can be found at this link: Using our recycling centres | Nottinghamshire County Council
• Remember that recycling centres are usually busier over bank holiday weekends
• Use the Recycling Centre Busy Times | Veolia Nottinghamshire webpage to check in real time how busy our recycling centres are
• Consider visiting our recycling centres in the evenings when they tend to be quieter
• Separate your waste prior to visiting to save time on site