West Sussex County Council (WSCC) and the District and Borough councils work in partnership to cover a comprehensive waste prevention suite including Home Composting, Food Digesters, Real Nappies, The Green Club and Green Diggers initiative and the Waste Prevention Advisors (volunteer scheme).

Changing the way we manage our recycling and rubbish, which is a journey from Rubbish to Resource, is making an important contribution to improving the quality of life in West Sussex.

Home Composting - Waste to Resource

Over 60,000 home composting units have been distributed in West Sussex since 1999 and each year the County promotes a number of Home Compost bins and discount prices. For more information and details of how to obtain a composting unit please see For Better Tomorrows

Hot Composting

West Sussex also now promote the Green Johanna This 'hot composting' system is designed so you can compost meat and fish as well as some garden waste.

Food Waste digestion

Do you produce food waste that is not suitable for composting such as cooked meat? Do you have a pet that leaves unpleasent feaces in the garden? West Sussex County Council also promote the Green Cone, which is a Food Digester that breaksdown this sort of waste. For more information and details of how to obtain a unit please see For Better Tomorrows.

Food Waste Digesters - What's the difference?

Real nappies

In West Sussex it is estimated that 77,000 disposable nappies are thrown out every single day. West Sussex is a leading authority in promoting Real Nappies and offers parents Free Starter Packs worth £100 plus a payment of £30 for each child in cotton nappies. See   ' For better Tomorrows' for more detail.

Aluminium Cans a partnership scheme

All Districts, Boroughs in West Sussex County Council have signed up to a scheme which promises to grow a fruit tree in Malawi for every tonne of aluminium drinks cans recycled over the next two years. Every resident in West Sussex is being asked to support this scheme to help save raw materials and energy, but also to help reach the target of growing 85,000 trees in rural Malawi.

About half the new trees, producing guava and paw paw fruits, will be grown from seed in 75 existing nurseries. And the remainder will be high-value grafted fruit trees, which will be produced in new greenhouses at the charity's base on Lake Malawi before being sold to individuals and small community businesses.

The initiative is being run by not for profit organisation Alupro in partnership with British charity Ripple Africa in a bid to tackle de-forestation, improve nutrition improved and, as crop volumes improve, establish new businesses for fruit drying and juicing.

More Ideas from our Waste Prevention Advisors

Take control of your trolley whilst shopping

Before you go….
Make a shopping list
Take along a reuasable bag - many of the leading retailers now have initiatives encouraging their customers to reduce the use of plastic bags. There are also a number of villiages and towns in West Sussex becoming plastic bag free!

Packaging
Buy things loose
Buy things in packaging that can be recycled