Littlehampton food waste collection trial could be scrapped early

Around 1,400 Littlehampton households are taking part in a trial which sees weekly food waste collections in addition to fortnightly recycling and three-weekly rubbish collections (known as the 1-2-3 trial).

The year-long trial, run by Arun District Council and West Sussex County Council, started in May 2021 and was extended to hundreds more households in September.

Due to its successes – including a more than 50 per cent reduction in residual waste, increased recycling, and participation rates of more than 85 per cent -ADC’s Environment Committee voted to extend the trial until February 2023.

But it could now be cut short if the Environment Committee votes to end it.

A report to the Environment Committee on Thursday (July 14) outlines how funding for the project will be withdrawn.

This is because it voted against rolling out food waste collections district-wide from 2023 due to high costs.

Conservative councillors argued that starting separate food waste collections could see ADC miss out on ‘new burdens funding’ which central government has promised to provide to offset the cost of implementing measures in the Environment Act for local authorities.

Following this decision, WSCC, which is funding the project, ‘questioned the value of continuing the trial’ beyond June and said it would ‘not be the best use’ of the Recycling Improvement Fund which could be used elsewhere.

ADC could continue the trial until September at a cost of nearly £12,000.

Continuing it until February, as originally agreed, could cost the council £35,000.

The council’s environmental services and strategy manager, Oliver Handson, said: “Whilst it may be disappointing to the high number of residents that were fully engaged with the 1-2-3 collections that it will be withdrawn, over 12 months of data has been gathered throughout the course of the trial, alongside significant learning in how to roll out changes to refuse collections and introduce a weekly food waste collection element.”

As it stands, Arun’s waste collections will remain the same from February 2023.