It’s almost Easter, which means many of us will be enjoying a long weekend full of Easter activities, family meals, crafts and decorating and, of course, chocolate. To ensure we waste as little as possible, we have collected some Easter-rific tips to help you recycle more and avoid food waste.

Check out our top tips for recycling at Easter:

• Easter egg foil: The good news is that from 31 March most foil from Easter eggs can be recycled at home. Scrunch it into a loose ball (along with any other foil) and pop it in your recycling bin. However, if it springs back open, it’s likely laminated and should go in your general waste bin instead.
• Easter egg packaging: Many Easter eggs now come with less packaging, which is great news for the planet. Most cardboard boxes can go straight into your recycling bin - just remember to flatten them to save space.
• Flowers: If your Easter flowers are past their best, don't worry! Simply add them to your garden waste or home compost. Feeling creative? Try drying them to use around your home.
• Plastic wrapping: Plastic wrapping is not recyclable in your recycling bin at home, but many UK supermarkets accept plastic bags and wrapping for recycling.
• Wrapping paper: Wrapping paper can usually be recycled if it’s not foil or glittery and passes the ‘scrunch test’ (it doesn’t spring back open when you try to scrunch it).
• Food waste: Planning a big Easter feast? Don’t forget about your freezer. Freezing leftovers is like hitting pause on your food. It locks in freshness, flavour and quality, giving you more time to enjoy it later instead of sending it to the bin.

From April, our recycling centres will be open from 8am to 8pm. However, the Easter bank holiday weekend is a particularly busy time at our recycling centres so we appreciate your patience if you’re visiting and we’d recommend visiting in the mornings or evenings when the recycling centres tend to be quieter.

Please remember our site rules:

• Register your vehicle before visiting your local recycling centre.
• If you are planning to use a hire van, you need to call our customer service team 24 hours beforehand to arrange your visit.
• 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.
• Make sure you wear sensible footwear.
• Children and animals must stay in your vehicle at all times.
• Ask a member of staff if you need any help.
• Where possible, please sort your waste in to waste types before visiting our recycling centres.

This year Food Waste Action Week’s theme was 'Make Your Food Go Fuuuuuuuurther: for your pocket, for our planet'. By preventing food waste, using up leftovers, and recycling anything that can’t be eaten, we can unlock more value from the food we already have by helping it to stretch further.

In the UK, 60% of food waste happens in our homes. Each year, households throw away 4.4 million tonnes of edible food – that’s worth £17.5 billion and creates 16 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.  At a time of rising costs and climate pressure, reducing food waste is one of the fastest, simplest ways to save money and reduce waste.

Before you throw it away, why not see what you could make? Extra ingredients, leftovers or odds and ends can all become something new.

Spring has officially sprung in the UK so many of us will be thinking about giving our homes a spring clean and a declutter. This means cleaning products are used up and some clothes and textiles may no longer be wanted. So, how can we ensure these items are reused or recycled?

Plastic cleaning bottles: It’s estimated that 38.5 million plastic bottles are used in the UK every day, yet 15 million of these are not recycled. Many of these are bottles used in kitchens and bathrooms, including those containing cleaning fluids. Once your household plastic bottle is empty, give it a rinse out, squash the bottle, replace the lid and pop it all in your recycling bin.

Textiles: Instead of throwing away old clothes and fabrics why not refresh, improve, mend or completely transform them for the new season? Clothes and textiles that are in good condition can be donated and sold for re-use. Items that aren’t suitable to be passed onto someone else can be recycled and made into new items, such as padding for chairs and car seats, cleaning cloths and industrial blankets. Please remember that any textile waste should not be put in your recycling bin.

From 31 March, new Government legislation called Simpler Recycling comes into effect. Simpler Recycling will allow people across the country to recycle more materials from their homes.

There will be an increase in the types of plastic and metal items that will be accepted for recycling in household recycling bins from 31 March. Keep a look out on our social media and website to find out what items these are!

More information will be released soon!

Looking for something fun to do over the Easter break? Hop onto the Nottinghamshire Waste Warriors website and enjoy a range of waste-themed activities!

Get creative, learn about recycling, and become a Waste Warrior from home.

Activities include:

• Colouring sheets
• Match the Word
• Missing Words
• Which Bin?
• Scavenger Hunt
• Search and Sort