Did you know that a ban on the sale and supply of single-use vapes in England comes into force on 1 June 2025?

An estimated 8.2 million vapes are either littered or thrown away incorrectly every week in the UK – that’s 13 per second! The new law will help to reduce waste, protect our natural environment and communities from litter.

Vapes contain batteries which can start fires if they’re crushed or punctured.

Never put vapes in your bins at home. Crushed batteries cause hundreds of fires every year in waste and recycling facilities and bin lorries, which are not only dangerous, but they can cause disruptions to bin collections on your street.

This year in Nottinghamshire there have already been a number of fires in bin lorries and at the Materials Recovery facility caused by vapes.

You can recycle your vapes at your local recycling centre – look out for the vape disposal container.

Can’t get to your local recycling centre? Our friends at Recycle Your Electricals have a handy search function on their website so you can find retailers near you that offer a recycling service (Recycle vapes - Find a local recycling point).

24 May to 1 June is National Children’s Gardening Week, which celebrates the fun that gardens hold for children. The aim is to inspire children’s curiosity, and the warm weather is a great time to see speedy results of seed sowing and planting. 

You might already know that cress grows really quickly, but did you also know that radishes, lettuce, carrots, spinach and spring onions can all be harvested in two months or less?

Please remember that unwanted plant pots should go in your general waste bin and not your recycling bin.

This month we are giving away two of these beautiful ceramic herb growing kits.

Each kit contains a self-watering house, a garden tray, four coir discs, four seed packets (basil, thyme, rosemary and basil) and instructions on how to use them.

Perfect for your kitchen or conservatory, this innovative and stylish garden set makes it easy for anyone to nurture a thriving herb garden without worrying about watering.

Did you know that 24 million slices of bread end up in the bin every day in the UK?

Check out our handy tips to help reduce your bread waste:

• Bread freezes beautifully. Put your sliced loaf in the freezer and then you can pick out a slice at a time and toast it straight from frozen.
• You can make sandwiches with frozen bread. They will defrost by lunchtime, keeping the filling cool.
• Keep your bread fresher for longer by keeping it in the original packaging and storing it in a cool, dark and dry place, like a bread bin or cupboard.
• Keep the end crust in place on top of the loaf slices to keep the next slice fresh.
• Get creative with your loaf! The thicker end slices make excellent mini pizza bases. Or how about making croutons to give your salad an extra dimension?
• Why not turn crusts and stale slices into bread and butter pudding? Our friends at Love Food Hate Waste have a delicious chocolate version if you’re not a fan of dried fruit.

Have you tried making French toast to use up old bread? It can be sweet or savoury and goes well with so many delicious toppings.

What's more, French toast doesn’t just have to be for breakfast. Why not try adding cheese and herbs to make a tasty lunchtime snack?

You probably know that in Nottinghamshire, we collect your food tins and drinks cans for recycling. You probably also know that they need to be clean, dry and empty. But have you remembered we also collect your aerosol cans?

Aerosol cans are often forgotten when it comes to recycling, but they contain metals which can be easily recycled into something new!

So when you have finished with your deodorant, furniture polish, room spray, hairspray or sun cream aerosol, make sure it’s completely empty, remove the plastic lid and pop it in your recycling bin.