Foreword from Councillor Blake Pain
Lead member for the Environment and the Green Agenda |
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As a green council, we’ve been taking part in Food Waste Action Week – an awareness week to encourage people to save food, money and the planet. I’m pleased to say we’ve launched a recipe competition, where residents can submit their creations made from leftover ingredients. Read more later in this edition.
It’s also been a year since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and we marked the occasion with a special tree planting at County Hall in Glenfield.
As part of our efforts to plant a tree for every person, we’re working in partnership with the National Forest to develop a new community-focused tree nursery involving local groups and organisations to help collect seeds and grow new trees.
As we head into Spring, there are a variety of things you can do to make Leicestershire cleaner and greener, including repurposing old items, refreshing your recycling knowledge or learning about composting.
I do hope you enjoy this edition and feel inspired to take action! |
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Take part in our recipe competition |
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Did you know you can save time and money by making the food you already have go further?
Every person in Leicestershire can take small actions – such as forward planning and storing your food correctly – and save their family over £700 a year.
We took part in Love Food Hate Waste’s Food Waste Action Week, which was all about how you can enjoy those little moments in life, like having tomorrow’s lunch sorted the night before or making use of leftover ingredients to make another meal.
During the week, we launched our recipe competition where we are inviting all Leicestershire residents to submit their own recipes they use for any leftover ingredients. You have until 26 March to submit your recipes!
Get involved and visit the Less Waste website to enter.
| | Submit your entry today |
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Driving the green agenda with our new climate pact |
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 | | We’ve teamed up with key partners and stakeholders from leading organisations to draw up an ambitious set of principles setting out Leicestershire’s commitment to tackle climate change, nature decline and carbon reduction.
The Leicestershire Climate and Nature Pact is based on the principles of the Glasgow Climate Pact, signed by the UK government in November 2021. It supports national and international efforts to tackle climate change by bringing together the businesses and private sector, voluntary, community and social enterprises, universities, the education and research sector, the public sector and the people and communities of Leicestershire, to drive local action and work towards a number of shared environmental aims. | | Read more about the pact and the signatories |
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Why and how to dispose of vapes safely |
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We throw away enough disposable vapes in the UK each year to cover around 22 football pitches. Each disposable vape contains a lithium-ion battery. Given the number of disposable vapes thrown away each year, we are discarding enough lithium to power 1,200 electric cars.
Disposing of these devices incorrectly will not only lose valuable resources from circulation, but also create a health and safety hazard. This is because, if the lithium-ion battery inside the device is punctured or damaged, it may explode.
Disposable vapes should not be thrown in the general waste, kerbside recycling bins or thrown away on the street, but instead taken to the small electricals bin at your local recycling and household waste site (RHWS) or to a local vape shop's collection point. | | Find out more about recycling vapes | | Online map will help to protect county’s trees |
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Leicestershire County Council are responsible for 265 Tree Preservation Orders (TPO) across the county.
These orders, which were created as part of the Town and Country Planning Act, serve to protect the trees from unauthorised work or removal and to maintain the amenity of certain areas. There are other TPOs in the county, but these are administered by the district planning authorities.
The county TPOs range from individual trees to woodlands, groups of trees and area orders. The orders were made between 1949 -1973, so the majority of protected trees are now at least 50 years old. Some TPOs are found on council owned land, but the majority are on private residences.
There is a new webpage with lots of helpful information and a new interactive map that allows you to search for Leicestershire County Council's TPO locations. |
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How to have a sustainable spring clean |
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As spring approaches, we may begin to get the urge to have a big spring clean and throw away everything we no longer want or use.
Before you throw something out, always check to see if it can be repaired or repurposed first. You could also check to see if your family or friends can make use of it or if a charity shop would accept it as a donation before throwing it in your bin.
There are now lots of online platforms to sell your unused goods, Ebay can be used for many items, while places like Depop and Vinted are perfect for selling your clothes.
You can also recycle empty bottles of cleaning product, just rinse, and dry them before placing the lid back on and popping them into your recycling bin.
| | Find out more |
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 | The Warm Homes Team within Public Health at Leicestershire County Council are here to help with advice on how to reduce energy bills and maintain affordable warmth.
The Energy Bills Support Scheme has been underutilised by prepayment customers. This is the £400 payment that is split into £66/£67 payments over six months from October 2022. You can read more about this by clicking the link below and viewing the section called 'National Cost of Living Support'. Applications close at the end of May 2023.
Further information about managing energy costs can also be found in our Warm Homes booklet and home energy efficiency grant schemes are listed on our website. | | Find out more here |
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Sign up to our newsletter to be notified of any new grants or support offers. | | Sign up here |
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For more information and advice from our Warm Homes support officers, fill out a self-referral form via First Contact Plus. | | First Contact Plus |
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| How to have a sustainable Easter |
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 | Did you know each year we buy over 80 million boxed chocolate Easter eggs?
A third of the weight of all these boxed Easter eggs is estimated to be just the packaging, so opting for eggs with less packaging could help reduce both the amount of waste you produce as well as your environmental impact. All packaging uses lots of energy and resources to produce it, so reducing packaging as much as possible is always worth it.
Most packaging is now recyclable including the foil, cardboard and the clear plastic moulds that hold the chocolate eggs. Scrunch the foil into a ball, flatten cardboard boxes and place the plastic moulds into your recycling bin. Unfortunately, chocolate bar and mini egg bags cannot be recycled.
This year, Good Friday is 7 April and Easter Sunday is on 9 April. | | Refresh your recycling knowledge | | Ramadan |
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 | Ramadan is the holiest month in Islam where Muslims across the world fast for 30 days from sunrise to sunset. They break their fasts at sunset with a meal known as Iftar where traditional feasts are prepared.
This year, Ramadan takes place from 22 March to 21 April, and it is thought that during this time the amount of food wasted increases.
If you find yourself producing a lot of food waste at this time of year, it could help to remind yourself of some of the easiest ways to reduce your food waste such as planning your meals ahead, portioning your food, using leftovers, and storing your food correctly.
Love Food Hate Waste have lots of advice and resources to help you reduce your food waste. |
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We’re looking forward to International Compost Awareness Week, which is taking place from 7-13 May.
This year’s theme is all about how composting can help increase the amount of nutrients in soils which in turn can help create better food; hence this year’s slogan: ‘for healthier soil, healthier food…compost!’
Composting at home is an excellent way of diverting food scraps from landfills into your back garden and making a valuable resource for your garden’s plants and flowers.
If you have never tried composting before, don’t worry, you don’t always need a large garden or lots of time, composting is relatively simple! There's plenty of composting advice and guidance on the Less Waste Website to help if you don’t know how to get started.
We also have volunteers who can offer further guidance to support you with composting and you can get in contact by emailing wasteprevention@leics.gov.uk |
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 | | Buy a compost bin | | Increase in fines for illegal tree felling |
Changes to the 1967 Forestry Act in January of this year means an increase to fines that can be issued to those found felling trees without a felling licence.
Felling trees without a felling licence will carry the penalty of an unlimited fine – up from the current limit of £2,500 or twice the value of the trees felled. Failure to comply with a Forestry Commission Enforcement Notice and a subsequent court-ordered Restocking Order will put offenders at risk of imprisonment, in addition to an unlimited fine.
By guaranteeing that illegal felling is no longer a financially viable option for offenders, these measures are a significant step forward in the fight against this offence and will help in endeavours to fight the climate emergency and nature crisis.
If you suspect illegal tree felling, please report it to the Forestry Commission.
| | Report suspected illegal tree felling | | |
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