Food waste

Tackling food waste in West Sussex.

Food waste makes up a staggering 40 per cent of the average household general waste bin in West Sussex.

Approximately 70 per cent of our food waste is avoidable, so in West Sussex, we prefer to focus on the prevention of food waste. You might be aware that food waste has a big environmental impact. When you throw away edible food you are not only wasting the product but also the resources that went into creating it.

For more information on how the West Sussex Waste Partnership (WSWP) is looking to tackle food waste visit our Fight against food waste page. 

Alongside the Fight against food waste campaign, West Sussex County Council (WSCC) and Arun District Council undertook a 1-2-3 collection which included weekly food waste and Absorbent Hygiene Product (AHP) collections, such as nappies and incontinence waste and was extremely successful.

Mid Sussex County Council, in partnership with WSCC, rolled out a similar 1-2-3 collection trial with the inclusion of food waste and AHP in Autumn 2022.

To see how food waste is currently processed see our General waste page.

Food rescue

Our Waste Prevention Team are working with various food partnerships across the county. We aim to encourage our residents to share their surplus food, helping those in food poverty and preventing food going to waste.

We encourage people to take advantage of surplus food rescue services and have partnered with UKHarvest and Biffa to support seven Community Food Hubs until April 2024 (one per month in each district and borough). More information on these can be found on our UKHarvest project page.

Services available are listed below.

See also