You might not think these items are dangerous as they’re commonly found in your home and place of work, but putting them in bins puts people in danger.

Batteries, vapes and electrical items can all cause fires and explosions if they are placed in bins. In fact, Veolia, our waste and recycling partner, records one preventable fire a day across its UK operations from dangerous items being placed in household bins.

Batteries become flammable when crushed and so they become a hazard as soon as they’re collected from your household or business if you put them in any bin. This includes small batteries, such as AAs and AAAs, and the hidden batteries you might find in vapes, electric toothbrushes, children’s toys, remote controls and many other electrical items.

Fires in collection vehicles and recycling and waste facilities can spread rapidly, putting operatives, firefighters, and the general public at the risk of burns, chemical exposure, and smoke inhalation.

Batteries contain valuable materials that can be extracted and used again when they’re recycled properly, making it even more important that they’re disposed of responsibly.

Please take used batteries, vapes or unwanted electrical items to your local recycling centre or return them to the retailer where you purchased them. Some district and borough councils in Nottinghamshire collect these items separately – please use our free Recycling Checker to find out if this applies to you.

Our new dedicated signs for the battery and vape bins have been added to all 12 recycling centres across Nottinghamshire!

Next time you visit one of our recycling centres, look out for these new signs and make sure your unwanted or used batteries and vapes are disposed of in the bins here.

By separating these items, you are helping to reduce the risk of fires, maintain the safety of residents and staff on site, and ensure that they are handled appropriately so that their reusable materials are recovered rather than wasted.

We've teamed up with Veolia and Inspire Libraries for a second year of swapping Christmas jumpers across the county’s libraries! Our aim is to encourage Nottinghamshire residents to reduce clothing waste this Christmas.

Did you know that in Notttinghamshire, over 70 tonnes of reusable clothes are thrown away each week? To reduce waste this Christmas and beyond, come along to one of our swap events, or consider mending damaged clothes or rehoming textiles that are no longer used or worn.

From Monday 2 November to Sunday 29 November, Nottinghamshire residents will be able to drop off any clean and wearable Christmas jumpers they no longer wear to seven libraries across the county: Arnold, Beeston, Bingham, Hucknall, Mansfield Central, Newark and Worksop.

The jumpers will be collected and displayed at:

• Kirkby in Ashfield Library Christmas Market, 10am-1pm on Saturday 21 November
• Worksop Library Christmas Market, 9:30am-2:30pm on Saturday 28 November
• West Bridgford Library Christmas Market, 10am-2pm on Saturday 5 December

At the library Christmas markets, residents will be able to drop off, pick up, or swap pre-loved Christmas jumpers ahead of the festive period and Christmas Jumper Day (Thursday 10 December).

Get ready to go green! Join Inspire Libraries for a packed week of eco-friendly activities during Green Libraries Week (21 to 28 October), celebrating the positive steps we can all take to look after our planet.

As part of the week’s mission to share climate facts and inspire a greener future, Veolia’s ECO Officer will be visiting six libraries across the county to chat with visitors and answer questions about recycling in Nottinghamshire.

Come along and meet our ECO Officer on the following dates:

• Keyworth Library – Thursday 22 October
• Arnold Library – Friday 23 October
• Southwell Library – Monday 26 October
• Ollerton Library – Tuesday 27 October
• Toton Library – Wednesday 28 October

Halloween is a time for frighteningly good fun with pumpkins, costumes and sweets, but all this fun doesn’t have to come with a scary amount of waste. 

Get creative with costumes:

• Reduce what you buy new and try to make your costume from things you already have around the house. Think cardboard box robots and DIY witch hats from old bits of fabric and ghosts from old bedsheets - it’s a great time to get creative!
• Reuse costumes from previous years – there’s no shame in being the one who always comes as a zombie if you’ve already got the costume, and it saves buying new.
• If the kids have outgrown their costumes from last year, why not hunt around in a charity shop or online marketplaces to find something preloved? These are great places to take your outgrown costumes, too!

Tips to reduce Halloween waste:

• Real pumpkins – carved or not, pumpkins of all shapes and sizes make the perfect Halloween decorations, with no plastic required.
• Reusable buckets – get the kids to gather their trick or treating haul in a more sustainable option rather than something disposable.
• Face paint instead of masks – painting a scary face is a great alternative to buying a plastic mask that could soon end up in the bin.
• If you are buying sweets and chocolates for trick or treaters in large tubs, remember the tubs can now be recycled in your recycling bin at home.