Food waste recycling
Information on upcoming collection changes.
Starting from Autumn 2025, separate household food waste collections will be rolled out across West Sussex. The majority of these will not begin until Spring or Summer 2026.
This follows a government announcement for every council in England to collect a core set of materials for recycling known as ‘Simpler Recycling’.
Under the new Simpler Recycling rules, every local authority will need to collect the same materials for recycling.
The majority of these materials are currently collected in West Sussex, with food waste collection being introduced from 2026 and plastic film collection in 2027. The West Sussex Waste Partnership (WSWP) is working to determine how the required changes can best be delivered.
Why we're separating food waste from general waste
Our key priority is reducing the amount of food waste that is produced. Food waste collections in other areas and Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) research shows that separate food waste collections are strongly associated with lower total food waste.
The expectation is that when food waste is separated from general waste, we realise the amount we're throwing away and begin to change our behaviour.
Also, if food waste is collected and processed separately, the digestate output material is higher quality and can be used in agriculture and spread on land as soil fertiliser.
This enables closed loop recycling and longer-term compliance and contribution to recycling rates, allowing us to work towards future national recycling targets. This process also creates a biogas which is used to produce heat and electricity.
Food waste items you can recycle
Food waste covers items such as:
- meat (including bones)
- fish and shellfish
- cheese and yoghurt
- cooked or uncooked vegetables, including peelings
- inedible materials, for example fruit skins or egg shells
- bread, cakes and pastries
- rice, pasta and beans
- plate scrapings
- mouldy and out of date food
- pet food
- tea bags or coffee grounds
- solid fats
All food will need to be removed from any packaging, much of which can be recycled separately.
If you put any other items into your food waste bin that are not listed above, it won’t be emptied.
Food waste recycling bins
A new grey and orange food waste recycling bin and grey kitchen caddy will be supplied by your local district or borough council. These are lockable and will be collected weekly.
Provided your food waste is left securely wrapped or tied in your bin, it will help avoid smells and should not attract foxes, rats and other vermin.
If flies settle on your waste, they may lay eggs which can hatch out as maggots within 24 hours. You can avoid flies being attracted to your general waste by:
- keeping all bin and caddy lids firmly closed
- wrapping any potentially smelly food waste in newspaper or compostable liners before putting it into your food waste bin
- not leaving your food waste uncovered in your home (including pet food)
- double-wrapping pet waste and putting it into your general waste bin
- rinsing all food and other residues off all your recycling and allow them to dry before putting into your recycling bin
- leaving your bins out of direct sunshine if you can
- washing your bins and caddies out regularly with hot water and washing up liquid or a strong smelling disinfectant
Weekly food waste collection service
Store your grey kitchen caddy, provided by the council, in a convenient place in your kitchen. Place your cooked and uncooked food waste into the caddy, instead of your general waste bin.
Whenever you need to empty your caddy, tip the contents into your grey and orange outdoor bin or communal food waste bin, if you live in a flat.
Place your grey and orange outdoor bin at the boundary of your property by 7am every week on your collection day. Try not to tuck the food waste bin behind your other bins and make sure it is visible, so your collection crews can easily see it.
Crews from your local district or borough council will visit your property, or the communal bin area if you live in a flat, each week in a special, smaller food waste collection vehicle.
They will place your food waste into a wheelie bin called a transfer bin. This bin will then be placed onto the vehicle and emptied. For more information on your collection days, visit your local council's website.
Using plastic bags
Although the majority of bags used to line caddies will be removed during the anaerobic digestion process, it is not possible to remove 100% of the material.
This means that any plastic used to line caddies could break down into microplastics, which would then be found in the soil fertiliser that will be spread on land.
By avoiding plastic bags, we can reduce the amount of microplastics entering the process and increase the quality of the soil fertiliser.
Where food waste goes after collection
Food waste collected across West Sussex will be taken to to an Anerobic Digestion plant in Horsham, where it is recycled into biofertiliser and energy.
The biofertiliser will be used as fertiliser for farmers fields and the energy will power the plant, with any excess exported to the national grid to be used in homes.