Waste Prevention Community Grant Fund
The fund helped community groups, residents' associations, charities, Community Interest Companies (CICs) and social enterprises find new ways to reduce household waste in their local areas.
Groups across West Sussex received grants of up to £5,000 to run projects that encouraged people to reuse, repair and waste less. The projects focused on different types of household waste, including:
- food
- clothes
- electrical items
- general rubbish
- furniture
- many other household items
Over the last year, the funded groups reached more than 560,000 local people. They helped save nearly 94 tonnes of material from becoming waste by repairing, reusing and recycling items. You can see the results for each project below.
By keeping these materials out of the waste stream, the projects saved enough energy to power more than 300 homes for a year. They also reduced carbon emissions by the same amount as driving a car for 830,000 miles.
More than 100 local people volunteered on the projects. Another 86 residents took part in workshops, where they learned practical skills such as sewing, bike repair and other ways to repair and reuse everyday items.
Successful applicants
As part of the 2025 to 2026 application process, 10 projects were successfully awarded funding to launch their initiative, the projects are as follows:
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Organisation: Barnham and Eastergate Community Trust
Project description: Engaging the Barnham and Eastergate communities through cookery and food education sessions, clothing swaps, textile classes (for example, making reusable bags), toy swaps, and furniture exchange and repair advice. Sessions will be held regularly in both community halls.
Location/Area: Arun
Results: Diverted 4,362kg of materials, including textiles, food and furniture and engaged with 6,869 residents.
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Organisation: Bognor Makerspace Repair Café
Project description: A monthly café encouraging residents to repair, not replace, broken household items. Expert volunteers will offer advice or carry out repairs on textiles, clocks, furniture, woodwork, sharpening tools and electrical appliances.
Location/Area: Arun
Results: Diverted 563kg of household items such as clocks, garden tools, small electricals and clothing and engaged with 286 residents.
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Organisation: Chichester Bike Project
Project description: Supporting people facing homelessness, refugee displacement, or mental health challenges by teaching bike maintenance and providing refurbished bikes. This reduces waste and improves mobility, independence and confidence. Delivered in partnership with Hart, The Sanctuary and the Chichester Centre.
Location/Area: Chichester
Results: Diverted 9,411kg of second-hand bicycles and clothes and engaged with 51 residents.
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Organisation: Selsey Community Forum
Project description: A community composting project using a Ridan machine to process kitchen waste. Compost will enrich The Hidden Garden’s fruit and vegetable beds. 100 kitchen caddies will be distributed to households and residents will drop contents off at the gardens, providing a local food waste solution that supports social welfare projects.
Location/Area: Chichester
Results: Diverted 1,666kg of food, paper and wood shavings and engaged with 100 residents.
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Organisation: Estcots Parents & Friends Association
Project description: Reducing textile waste by collecting and reselling pre-loved school uniforms and upcycling unwearable items. This supports families during the cost-of-living crisis while promoting sustainability.
Location/Area: Mid Sussex
Results: Diverted 228kg of clothing and cuddly toys and engaged with 1,257 residents.
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Organisation: Grandads Front Room
Project description: An emergency furniture and white goods programme for residents in crisis (for example, homelessness, job loss, domestic abuse). The initiative will take donated materials giving them a new lease of life and works with referral agencies to distribute ‘crisis packs’ quickly, offering dignity and support during difficult times.
Location/Area: Arun
Results: Diverted 76,504kg of furniture, textiles, large and small electrical goods and engaged with 338 residents.
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Organisation: Resourceful Community Scrapstore
Project description: Offering free workshops teaching sewing and repair skills to reduce textile waste. Participants will learn to mend clothes and repurpose textiles into reusable items.
Location/Area: Arun
Results: Diverted 349kg of sewing machines, fabric and sewing accessories and engaged with 138 residents.
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Organisation: Sussex Green Living
Project description: A new monthly dry food refill service at the UK Harvest Community Food Hub, helping residents reduce both food and plastic waste. Includes an awareness campaign, a how-to guide and volunteer training to ensure long-term impact.
Location/Area: Horsham
Results: Diverted 124kg of food, single use plastic packaging and bottles and engaged with 550,680 residents.
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Organisation: Tamil Learning Centre
Project description: Promoting sustainable behaviours among Tamil and South Indian communities by distributing bilingual educational materials, and raising awareness around recycling, donation, redistribution and repurposing.
Location/Area: Crawley
Results: Diverted 686kg of food waste, textiles and small electrical items and engaged with 685 residents.
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Organisation: West Sussex Federation of Women’s Institutes
Project description: Hosting drop-in workshops to teach textile repair and creative reuse skills. Also providing educational worksheets to encourage long-term textile waste reduction in the community.
Location/Area: Horsham
Results: Diverted 78kg of clothing, bags and bedding and engaged with 59 residents.
Future funding
The success of this project has helped secure further funding for another Waste Prevention Community Grant Fund, aimed at reducing waste and supporting local communities. Planning for this is underway, and further updates will be shared when it is ready to launch in late summer 2026.