Calls to end controversial tip booking system in East Sussex

Calls to end a controversial booking system at rubbish tips in East Sussex are set for debate by councillors.

On Tuesday (July 14), East Sussex County Council is due to discuss a motion calling on cabinet members to consider ‘discontinuing’ a booking system used by its 10 Household Waste Recycling Sites (HWRS).

The motion, by Liberal Democrat councillors Kathryn Field and Stephen Holt, says residents have felt  ‘dissatisfied and excluded’ since it was introduced in November last year.

A 2024 public consultation on the booking system generated 5,992 comments — the highest number of responses ever submitted to a consultation run by the council’s communities, environment and transport department at the time.

A total of 91 per cent of  responses were negative.

However, the change was introduced by the council’s previous administration in November last year.

Council officers said the system was intended to prevent traders from illegally tipping commercial waste and ensuring only East Sussex residents could use the sites for free.

The council had expected savings of around £50,000 as a result of a smaller amount of waste moving through the sites.

In a report prepared in response to the petition, officers now say the savings have the potential to be significantly higher.

The predicted saving of £50,000 had been based on an assumption that waste tonnage processed by the council’s tips would reduce by around 7.5 per cent.

While the booking system has only been in place for less than a year, officers say early analysis indicates “a consistent 11 per cent reduction in waste” between November and April. More recent figures are not available.

Officers say this would be expected to result in a savings of around £579,683, if similar reductions in waste tonnages continue for the full financial year.

The report says this saving should be deposited into the council’s waste risk reserve and would enable the council to weather upcoming storms expected in the sector.

While the amount of waste moving through the council’s tips has decreased since the introduction of the booking system, officers say this tonnage has not been displaced into other ‘collection streams’, such as black bag waste or fly-tipping.

The report acknowledges there had been a small increase in the amount of fly-tipped waste in the six months following the introduction of the booking system.

This figure comes from comparing the tonnages of fly-tipped waste collected between November and April 2024/25 and the same period in 2025/26.

These figures showed 20 more tonnes of waste collected during 2025/26, although some months saw less waste collected than in the previous year.

The report also notes how the overall tonnages of fly-tipped waste has been decreasing over the past three years.

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