Pebsham residents 'will take some convincing' over waste site.

That was the clear message when community interest company Generation Vie explained its scheme to an invited audience at the De La Warr Pavilion.

Environmental journalist Richard Watson, Bexhill Community Partnership chairman Martin Fisher, IT expert Jay Brewerton and engineer and surveyor Russell Smith have formed the not-for-profit company after exploring the latest green technology.

They have submitted a 23m lottery bid and are seeking 12m in business backing.

They argue that 300,000 tonnes of waste will continue to be sorted and reclaimed at Pebsham even after the tip there closes but new green technology could work both for the environment and for the public.

Architect Michael Pawlin spent seven years on the Eden Project. The scheme transformed a redundant Cornish industrial site into an ecological project said to be worth 155m a year to the local economy.

He has since worked on a Merseyside project which, by a "closed loop" process copying the way Nature works, was producing caviar.

The principle by which the Lost Gardens of Heligan had replicated Victorian practice to heat a pineapple house with manure could be scaled-up to produce astounding results, he said.