More than 500 tonnes of food waste saved from landfill in first month of Mid Sussex District Council’s 1, 2, 3 programme

- 22/12/2025

More than 500 tonnes of food waste saved from landfill in first month of Mid Sussex District Council’s 1, 2, 3 programme

Following a month of the new 1, 2, 3 food waste collection programme, one of the largest  projects Mid Sussex District Council (MSDC) has embarked upon, the Council would like to say ‘thank you’ to all residents in helping us to recycle significant amounts of food waste.

Since the Council started the new programme on the 3rd November, brought in to conform with national Government requirements and substantially funded by MSDC, it has recycled more than 500 tonnes of food waste. This is previously unsaved waste that has now been sent to an anaerobic digester where it is transformed into energy which is fed back into the electricity grid and turned into fertiliser used to grow food.  

The programme has also seen the employment of 30 new staff through the Council’s waste partner, Serco, as well as the purchase of 10 new vehicles to pick up waste across the district.

MSDC is grateful for the kindness that residents have shown the Serco teams who have taken on this significant new endeavour, already making over 500,000 collections, and for using the new system so well, whilst being patient while operational issues are resolved.

The programme has already had a po sitive impact in the reduction of general waste volumes as local people save their weekly food waste from landfill. While the rollout has been positive, there have been some issues around collections, and caddy deliveries which the Council has worked quickly to resolve.

1,2,3 in numbers

Having been scaled up from the 6,000 households involved in previous trials to more than 13 times as many – 72,000 homes across the district – the positive impact of the changes include:

  • 144,000 new bins and caddies delivered
  • More than 500,000 collections made
  • More than 500 tonnes of food waste collected, saved from general waste and landfill
  • 10 new food waste collection vehicles
  • 30 new Serco refuse workers

MSDC and Serco have now delivered nearly all outstanding caddies and are supporting residents with getting used to the new system.

With Christmas this week, the Council is aware that residents will have more waste than usual to dispose of, a lot of which will be recyclable. All bones and carcasses, and vegetable cuttings can go in food waste bins. Cardboard boxes can be recycled too.

However, most wrapping paper has plastics in it, and can’t be recycled, as well as tinsel. If in doubt, residents are advised to leave Christmas waste out of the recycling bin and put in their general waste bin.

There will be no bin collections on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day, and collection dates have changed over the festive period. The revised dates are shown in the online schedule available at www.midsussex.gov.uk/waste-recycling/bin-collection.

MSDC will be collecting Christmas trees from several sites across the district which residents can see at www.midsussex.gov.uk/christmastrees. They will be open for a fortnight from December 31. All decorations should be removed from trees before they are dropped off, so that the Council can recycle them properly. Residents can also cut up their tree and put in their garden waste bin, if they have this service. Christmas trees should not be left by the kerb, as they won’t be collected.

Councillor Chris Hobbs, Cabinet Member for Leisure and Customer Services, said “We would like to thank residents for the way that they have adapted to one of the largest changes to council services. 
 
“Since the 1, 2, 3 programme has been in place, we have now recycled more than 500 tonnes of food waste, which is being turned into electricity and fertiliser, which will directly benefit the district. 

“We will continue to work together with our colleagues at Serco and with residents to ensure that the roll-out of the project now becomes an established service.”  

 Mid Sussex District Council encourages residents who have a query relating to their waste services to visit www.midsussex.gov.uk/waste-recycling, where most common questions and issues can be resolved.

ENDS