In many households, Easter can be a time when extra waste is created.  Large meals with family and friends, time spent in the garden, DIY jobs tackled and craft activities undertaken to keep children amused, not to mention packaging associated with chocolate Easter eggs.

Across Somerset, cardboard boxes and aluminium foil from Easter eggs can be recycled at the kerbside.  Please flatten the boxes and scrunch together the foil and bag it separately from your food and drinks cans.

One way to cut down on Easter waste is to make your own chocolate Easter eggs or todecorate chicken eggs. If you have any great hints and tips on ways you reduce your waste, craft ideas, left over recipes or reuse suggestions we would love to hear from you and feature your suggestions on our website.  Please email your ideas to us at recycle@somersetwaste.gov.uk

Recycling sites will be open on usual days over Easter to take bulky items and up to 30 materials for recycling.  If you have been tackling DIY jobs, please remember that there are charges starting at £2.90 across all sites for disposal of construction and demolition materials such as rubble and concrete including sinks, tiles and toilets made from ceramics or porcelain. 

Somerset Waste Partnership (SWP) is supporting national Real Nappy Week 16–22 April 2012 by offering free hire of our themed educational display boards on washable nappies to Somerset Children's Centres or co-ordinators of ante- or post-natal groups in the county.

Each board offers advice for prospective parents or those considering a move away from disposable nappies, provides hints and tips on the financial and environmental benefits of reusable nappies, and has sample nappies to show possible options.

Designed as a stand-alone display that is self-supporting on a tabletop, each board is a useful backdrop for anyone giving a talk or leading a discussion on cloth nappies.

To borrow the boards, contact Somerset Waste Partnership on 01823 625700 or email recycle@somersetwaste.gov.uk.

SWP is keen to work more closely with Somerset Children's Centres, ante- and post-natal groups, and health professionals to promote the benefits of real nappies to residents. To discuss how we could work together, please contactrecycle@somersetwaste.gov.uk

For more on Somerset recycling and waste reduction, see our website www.somersetwaste.gov.uk, Facebook page orTwitter feed.

The United Nation's World Water Day is being held on 22 March and is an opportunity for us all to focus on how much water we use and how we could avoid wasting it.  Good tips are to fill a reusable bottle with tap water, which saves on buying expensive bottled mineral water, and turn off taps when cleaning your teeth. 

In the garden, as well as offering home composting equipment, our scheme withevengreener.com enables Somerset residents to purchase reduced pricewaterbutts - vital for gardening as hosepipe bands are introduced across the UK.  Prices will increase slightly from 1 April, so you may be able to grab a bargain if you order by 31 March. 

International Earth Day is being held on 31 March.  This initiative encourages people to think about their energy use and to switch off their lights for an hour. 

All of Somerset's recycling sites have facilities for the safe recycling of low energy light bulbs and fluorescent tubes and some retailers have collection points as well.  For advice on how to dispose of broken low energy light bulbs, see our hazardous waste page. 

Spring will soon be upon us and gardeners will be out in force pruning, mowing and weeding.  But what to do with the resulting waste?  Garden waste can be composted at home, taken to a recycling centre or you can subscribe to thefortnightly garden waste collection service.

Subscriptions for the garden waste service run from 1 April (1 March in West Somerset). Subscription renewal letters have been sent to current subscribers, so do ensure you reapply quickly to benefit from the full annual service. New subscribers can call their district council customer services or, in some districts, apply online via the SWP website. 

A garden waste service costs well under £1 a week.  A bargain when you think of the time and petrol involved, (not to mention the resulting dirty car) taking garden waste to a recycling centre.  The garden waste service complements home composting and is ideal for hedge prunings, weeds like bindweed and for those who produce a lot of grass clippings.

Garden waste is only collected in pre-paid wheeled bins or authorised paper sacks ordered through district councils. For prices and more information visit the garden waste service page of our website. Please note that the service is suspended over the Christmas/New Year fortnight.

Home composting is the greenest option of all and produces nutritious compost for your garden. You can easily make your own enclosure or buy compost bins on special offer from Somerset Waste Partnership. Please note that the prices are due to rise slightly on 1 April.

Somerset's cooking oil is to power the National Grid, with each litre recovered through the county'srecycling sites generating enough electricity to make 240 cups of tea.

After a successful introduction at four locations, SWP and its recycling sites contractor,Viridor, are rolling out a cooking oil collection network of special tanks to all 18 recycling sites.

All the new tanks will be operational from Monday 5 March to divert as much as possible from costly landfill or clogging up the county's drains.

Somerset's old cooking oil will be used to generate clean, green electricity after being processed by Living Fuels, the UK's premiere used cooking oil to renewable energy eco-firm.

Living Fuels estimates that the three-litre contents of Somerset's average chip fryer generates enough power to make 720 cups of tea.

Cement bonded or sheet asbestos is accepted at seven recycling centres in Somerset and must be carefully double bagged or wrapped in plastic and sealed when taken for disposal.

Residents should also call the recycling centre in advance, to ensure there is space in containers, and alert staff as they arrive to be directed to the correct container. Site staff are not able to assist with the unloading of asbestos. There is a disposal limit for asbestos which roughly equates to 16 sheets of 6ft x 2ft or 16 sheets of 2.5m x 0.6m.

Asbestos must be double bagged or wrapped and sealed in heavy duty plastic, such as rubble bags closed with gaffer or duct tape. Large sheets should not be broken up but double wrapped using heavy duty plastic and sealed with tape. Storage heaters, which can contain asbestos, should not be broken up and must also be double bagged or wrapped and sealed.

Use gloves and masks when handling asbestos and, where possible, do not break, drill, scrub or saw the asbestos. Damp down the working area with water to limit airborne particles and remaining fibres should be cleared up with a damp cloth, which should be included with the asbestos for disposal.

See our website for more information. Collections for domestic asbestos can also be arranged for a fee - call Somerset Direct atSomerset County Council on 0845 345 9188

The network of sites now accepting plasterboard for recycling has increased, with special banks now available at Crewkerne and Chard.  The number of sites will continue to expand, so look at our hazardous waste webpage for the latest list of suitable sites.

Mothering Sunday on 18 March is a great day to show someone special just how much you care for them and for their environment too.  Make it a waste free celebration by carrying out simple ideas.

Dine in at home and make the most of your store-cupboards and freezer.  Visit theLove Food Hate Waste website for recipe ideas.

Save your pennies and make your own greetings card.  There are numerous websites with inspiring design ideas, here are two sites to get you started. (Lets make greetings cardsand All about you).  Please remember to recycle greeting cards in with cardboard (not paper) and remove any non-card decorations such as ribbons.

Make your own gift soap or toiletries to pamper the special person and wrap it up using bespoke packaging ideas.