Council apologises for disruption after Haywards Heath resident says waste was not collected from flats for eight weeks

Paul Hunt, of Broadway Court (22 The Broadway), contacted the Middy in December 2025 to say residents had experienced ‘chaos’ accompanying the roll-out of the council’s new 1,2,3 bin collection.

Paul said his small block of four flats, plus two neighbouring residents, did not have their household waste collected from October 29 until December 24.

He said he kept contacting Council Waste Services until the block received an ‘unscheduled collection’ on Christmas Eve.

Paul said: “In addition, Waste Services made a total mess of providing the internal food waste caddies and the external collection bins. As a result, people had no option but to put food waste in their household refuse and this generated overflows when this waste wasn’t collected under the new schedule.”

More recently, Paul said scheduled collections of household waste and recycling had not taken place on Monday, January 5. He said: “Only the food waste was collected.”

Mid Sussex District Council responded in a statement, saying: “Mid Sussex District Council launched the 1,2,3 programme to meet Government legislation requiring food waste collections by April 2026 and respond to public demand for a separate service.

“Considering the scale of the rollout, most of the 72,000 households across the district have had regular waste collections with no issue. A number have experienced missed collections or were missing food waste bins, as waste crews familiarise themselves with new rounds, and due to instances of vehicle mechanical failure. We’ve worked quickly to resolve these issues, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

The council said: “With regards the issue identified by a resident at Broadway Court last year, all outstanding and overflowing waste at Broadway Court was cleared on 24 December. Ongoing monitoring checks are now in place to ensure collections return to, and are maintained at, a normal service level. New food waste bins and cadies have also now been delivered.”

MSDC also responded to a Warninglid resident, who said some households in the Warninglid and Slaugham area had not received food waste bins. The resident said that, in the months before Christmas, around three collections of black bins were missed and no rubbish was collected for over nine weeks.

In response to the issues reported in Warninglid and Slaugham, MSDC said: “Some areas have experienced waste collection delays and missing bins while new routes and crews become fully established. Our collection crews are continuing to build familiarity with revised rounds and are working to get up to speed as quickly as possible. The service is being actively monitored, and we are confident that collections will normalise.

“In both cases, the Council acknowledges the disruption caused, and we apologise for the inconvenience experienced. Thank you to all residents for supporting the new service and helping create a greener, cleaner Mid Sussex.”

The council added that over 800 tonnes of food waste has been collected since its new service launched. MSDC said this waste has been saved from landfill and used to make biogas and fertiliser. The council added that it is thankful to residents for supporting the improvements.