News and consultations | Leicestershire County Council Professional Services Portal

Our Environment and Waste team are looking for places to hold composting workshops to introduce people to how simple and rewarding home composting can be. They will be delivered by our volunteer master composters and are free to Leicestershire residents.

The sessions (minimum of 10 attendees per session) are likely to last about an hour and aim to give people the skills and confidence to compost at home. If you're interested in hosting one of these sessions or you would like more information, please contact sarah.varnam@leics.gov.uk

More information on recycling and waste services in Leicestershire, how you can reduce waste, reuse materials, recycle and compost can be found at lesswaste.org.uk

Last call for parishes to participate in thriving 2025 wildlife project

A scheme to help local roadside verges recover for our native wildlife has had its deadline for applications extended.

The successful wildlife verges scheme from Leicestershire County Council already involves 60 parish councils. Now, the deadline to get involved has been extended until Friday 17 January to give more parishes the chance to take part, with the scheme kicking off again in spring.

Email: EnvironmentTeam@leics.gov.uk by 17 January.

Muddy roads

Farming work is an important part of our rural economy in Leicestershire, but ongoing poor weather conditions can make it difficult for farmers to avoid leaving trails of mud on roads throughout the autumn and winter months.

Muddy roads can be difficult for road users, and we want to reassure you that the National Farmers’ Union regularly provides advice on this issue to farmers directly. They encourage the use of ‘Slippery Road Surface’ and ‘Mud on Road’ warning signs, cleaning vehicles before driving them on public routes, as well as including road sweeping and cleansing in their routine ploughing, spraying and harvesting operations.

Where required, district councils will cleanse muddy roads as part of their environmental duties. The county council may provide additional warning signage for motorists when needed and may even serve notice to those who continually muddy roads as a last resort, as well as recovering expenses incurred, in line with the Highways Act 1980.

If you notice a muddy road which has not been cleansed in your area, please contact us via Report a road problem online form or by email cscparishes@leics.gov.uk so that an assessment can be carried out.

Recycling and Waste

All of the recycling and household waste sites close at 4pm over the winter months (on the days they're usually open) last admittance is at 3.55pm. As always, please check our Find a recycling and household waste site in preparation for your visit as some sites are unable to accept certain materials and in extreme cases sites may have to be closed until there is sufficient capacity to run them safely.

The waste site at Melton is due to be closed from 13 January for up to 4 weeks for essential maintenance – we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. Details of alternative sites can be found at Find a recycling and household waste site.

Discarded batteries can cause fires. Information on how to recycle batteries correctly can be found on the Take Charge site.

General information on recycling can be found at lesswaste.org.uk

Battery recycling campaign

We need your help to reduce the risk of serious fires by encouraging battery recycling. Where possible, please raise awareness of the following key messages:

Always recycle batteries and electrical items separately from other types of waste.
Batteries and unwanted electrical items should not go into kerbside recycling collections, unless there is a dedicated separate kerbside collection service for these items – please check with your local district council.
Find suitable recycling points near you.
Recycle your batteries and electrical items at Recycling and Household Waste Sites across Leicestershire.

More and more everyday items such as children’s toys, wireless headphones, mobile phones, laptops, electric toothbrushes and disposable vapes contain non-removable batteries. These batteries can become crushed or damaged in bin lorries or at waste sites if they are not recycled appropriately and can lead to fires which are hazardous, environmentally harmful and which cause costly damage and disruption to waste systems and infrastructure.

When crushed or damaged, lithium-ion batteries can be especially dangerous to the public, waste operators and firefighters as they cause fires that are very challenging to tackle. They can lead to explosions and chemical exposure. Once ablaze these batteries can keep reigniting; prolonging incidents with smoke and fumes affecting the air quality of neighbouring areas and communities, sometime for long periods of time.

As the rise of portable battery-powered devices leads to more lithium-ion batteries ending up in the bin, the number of fires caused by batteries in waste has increased accordingly:

There were 700 fires caused by batteries in the UK waste system in 2022, and 1,200 in 2023 an increase of 71%.
1.6 billion batteries were thrown away in the UK over the last year; over 3,000 a minute, including over 1.1 billion electrical items containing hidden lithium-ion batteries.
The National Fire Chiefs Council says that “Fires involving lithium-ion batteries are a disaster waiting to happen”.

Research by Material Focus (an environmental campaign group) revealed that last year, UK residents binned at least 24 batteries per year on average, including 15 electrical items containing batteries and nine loose batteries per year. This included 260 million disposable vapes.

Nearly half of the UK adults involved in this research did not know or had not heard that electrical items containing chargeable built-in batteries can catch fire if crushed or damaged, or that these batteries / electrical items therefore need to be disposed of or recycled separately to other types of waste.

Find out more information about never binning batteries and how to recycle batteries from Less Waste.

If you have any queries, please contact wasteprevention@leics.gov.uk

All sites will move to standard winter opening hours on 1 October until 31 March (9am to 4pm on days they are open). We encourage residents to arrive at least 10 minutes prior to closing, with the last admittance no later than 6.55/3:55pm respectively).

Local Transport Plan 4

The councils current Local Transport Plan, LTP3, is coming to an end in 2026, and no longer accords with national planning, transport, and environmental policies. It also has a limited focus on health and well-being and the potential benefits that active travel provides Leicestershire for local communities. We have taken the decision to update it with a new Local Transport Plan which will know as LTP4.

For more information visit Local Transport Plan.

The Environment and Transport Department is also working to develop supporting strategies, including Leicestershire Highway Design Guide, Electric Vehicle Strategy and Cycling and Walking Strategy which allow more opportunities for you to feed in your thoughts and views.