More than 72 tonnes of food waste was collected across Adur and Worthing during the first week of a new weekly recycling service.
Adur & Worthing Councils say 72.3 tonnes were collected from thousands of homes — the equivalent of filling more than three standard household waste trucks with food waste alone.
The additional collections were introduced as part of the Government’s Simpler Recycling programme, with food waste now being separated from general rubbish and recycled into renewable energy and fertiliser.
Residents taking part in the scheme are being asked to put leftover food, including plate scrapings, peelings and tea bags, into kitchen caddies before transferring the contents into orange-lidded outdoor food waste bins for weekly collection.
The councils have introduced specialist smaller collection vehicles and recruited additional staff to operate the service.
Collected food waste is being transported to a processing plant near Horsham, operated on behalf of West Sussex County Council.
There, it goes through anaerobic digestion, which converts the waste into biofertiliser and renewable energy.
The fertiliser is then supplied to local farmers, while the energy produced is used to power the plant, with any surplus exported to the national grid.
The councils said there were some teething problems during the first week, with a small number of collections missed because of issues involving the new vehicles.
They say crews are aiming to return quickly to missed bins reported online and expect fewer problems as the service becomes established.
The roll-out across Adur and Worthing is being carried out in two phases.
Residents included in the second phase will be contacted separately with details of when their food waste collections will begin.
People can check their collection day and find further information about the service through the Adur & Worthing Councils website.
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