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Thanks to the recycling scheme, with green textile bins located at 14 sites across the town, around £25,000 has been raised in the past year.

This money goes directly to Worthing Community Chest, which offers grants up to £1,500 in four rounds of funding a year.

Chairman Karl Allison highlighted the work of the grant-giving charity at the Voluntary Action Worthing celebration on Thursday, when representatives from a large number of community groups gathered for the final send-off after 25 years of work in the town.

These are the green recycling bins to look out for - all the money rased is ploughed back into Worthing groups

Voluntary Action Worthing holds final celebration before closure

Mr Allison said: “This place is as rich in voluntary human activity as any I have come across, and I have toured and travelled.

“Some really outstanding work has been done over a number of years to encourage that growth. It is a good job Voluntary Action Worthing existed and was so committed to the task.

“The new things are not displacing the old things, they are moving in alongside them. I am genuinely thrilled at the way in which Worthing is embracing change.”

Karl Allison, chairman of Worthing Community Chest

He said the yield from the textile bins had roughly doubled in the past few years, from £10,000 to £12,000 a year to about £22,000 to £25,000, and he felt there was still capacity to increase that again.

Mr Allison said: “Most of the money comes from the 14 green recycling bins dotted around Worthing but most of Worthing still don’t realise that these bins can fund the things they love in Worthing. They are Worthing bins, for us.”

The charity is looking at more ways to increase the money it has to give out, including recycling other items and running pop-up stalls at key locations.

Textile bin locations: