My council recycling bin was checked last week and we got an orange badge because there was some loose plastic in there. (I blame my son.) But it got me thinking about the proper ways to dispose of trickier items – such as batteries and paint.

A national battery recycling scheme was launched last month to make it easy for people not to throw old batteries in the rubbish where they end up polluting the environment. It's called B-cycle and you can find more information and drop-off points here.

There's also a scheme to help us dispose of old and empty paint cans. I used to leave the lids off for a few months and my council would accept them when it does a bulk rubbish collection. There's a quicker way.

It's called PaintBack and was established way back in 2016 – an industry-led not-for-profit initiative set up to stop unwanted paint and packaging from ending up in landfill and waterways. You can find out more and check your nearest drop-off site here.

Now I just need to investigate where to drop off those old camping gas bottles.

Are you diligent about not putting batteries and paint in the bin? Do you have any other recycling insights to share?