Here’s where a West Sussex food waste treatment plant could be based

The work, which would take around one year to complete, has been proposed for the Brookhurst Wood mechanical biological treatment (MBT) facility, near Warnham.

Under the new Environment Act 2021, the various district and borough councils in West Sussex will soon be required to collect food waste separately from recycling or general household rubbish.

But the responsibility of disposing of that waste falls on the county council.

Around 40 per cent of household waste in the county, by weight, is food waste – but the Brookhurst Wood site cannot process it separately to all the other rubbish.

The matter will be discussed during a scrutiny committee meeting on Wednesday March 2.

A report to the committee said: “The government has yet to confirm the timing of and funding for implementation of the new duty.

“However, given the time frames required to amend major contracts and implement new arrangements, the county council needs to consider options for how to meet the obligation that will fall to it.”

Brookhurst Wood is operated by Biffa under a 25-year Materials Resource Management contract, which would need to be varied.

If all goes as planned, the multi-million pound investment would not only allow the facility to process food waste, it would also provide a Dry Mixed Recycling centre for Horsham District Council.

The district does not currently have one, meaning its recycling has to be delivered to sites in Ford, Burgess Hill or Crawley – with the county council ‘compensating’ the district to the tune of £314,000 per year.

Not only would the improved facility eliminate that cost, it would also reduce the number of lorries on the road and the pollution they bring.

A report to the committee said: “The financial, technical, environmental, legal and risk analysis concludes that modification of the existing facility [at Brookhurst Wood] is the option which enables the council to meet the new statutory duty and the council’s strategic aims in the safest and most convenient way.”

Food waste collections have already been trialled in several parts of West Sussex.

Arun District Council has held the largest so far.

More than 1,300 households in Littlehampton took part in the trial, which started in May and has now been extended to February 2023.

The 1-2-3 system sees food waste and opt-in absorbent hygiene products collected weekly, recycling continue to be picked up fortnightly, but general waste has moved to every three weeks.

Currently the food waste is bulked at Ford, but transported to an anaerobic digester in Basingstoke over in Hampshire.

Last year Horsham District Council held its own much smaller trial of around 100 households.

Mid Sussex District Council is also due to start a trial this spring, but a much larger one covering 3,000 households.