Worthing's weekly food waste bin has to be out by 6:30am, and the council has a workaround for caddy lids that will not lock. What goes in, what does not.
Weekly food waste collections will start in Worthing in stages from September, and every household will receive a free starter pack including a kitchen caddy from this August, Adur and Worthing Councils have confirmed. Bin days are not changing: the new weekly collection is an extra service on top of the existing fortnightly refuse and recycling rounds. (Adur and Worthing Councils, 3 August 2026)
Updated 2 October: collections have started. The councils say 72.3 tonnes of food waste was collected across Adur and Worthing in the first week. Teething problems with the new vehicles meant “a small number of collections” were missed; report a missed bin online. The roll-out is in two phases, and phase two households will be told their start date later. (Adur and Worthing Councils, 29 September 2026)
The service is being introduced under the government’s Simpler Recycling programme. Houses will get two new containers: a 5-litre caddy to keep in the kitchen and a 23-litre grey bin with an orange lockable lid to put out for collection. Flats will get the kitchen caddy plus a shared 140-litre wheeled bin with an orange lid kept in the communal bin store. Each starter pack also includes an instructional leaflet and a roll of compostable liners. (Adur and Worthing Councils)
Using it is simple: leftover food such as plate scrapings, peelings and tea bags goes into the kitchen caddy instead of the general waste bin, and the caddy is emptied into the outside food waste bin ready for a weekly collection. The food waste bin will be emptied on the same day as either your recycling or your general waste bin, by a fleet of specially designed smaller collection vehicles. (Adur and Worthing Councils, 3 August 2026)
The council’s guidance says the caddy can take meat including bones, fish and shellfish, dairy products such as cheese and yoghurt, cooked and uncooked vegetables, bread, rice and pasta, coffee grounds, eggshells, pet food and mouldy food. It cannot take oils and liquids, packaging or cutlery, animal waste and bedding, or flowers, and the council asks residents to line caddies only with compostable liners, kitchen roll or newspaper rather than plastic bags, which reduce the quality of the fertiliser the waste becomes. There is a firm warning attached: “If you put items that can’t be accepted into your food waste bin, it will not be emptied.” (Adur and Worthing Councils)
Once collected, food waste from Worthing and Adur will be taken to a processing plant near Horsham, operated on behalf of West Sussex County Council, where anaerobic digestion converts it into biofertiliser for local farmers and renewable energy. The energy powers the plant itself, with any surplus exported to the national grid. (Adur and Worthing Councils, 3 August 2026)
Councillor Martin McCabe, Worthing’s cabinet member for environment, said: “Food waste collections have already proved successful in other areas of West Sussex and I’m sure Worthing residents will embrace this new service too. By recycling our wasted food we will boost our local recycling rates and research has shown that when we separate our waste and see how much we throw away, we often end up changing our habits and wasting less in the long-run.” (Adur and Worthing Councils, 3 August 2026)
Worthing food waste collection: the practical detail the leaflet leaves out
Adur and Worthing updated its own food waste page on 9 September 2026, and several things in that update are not in the August announcement or on the leaflet in the starter pack.
Put the bin out by 6:30am. That is the council’s stated deadline for food waste, the same as the rest of the collection. Late out means missed, and the round will not come back for it.
The lid that will not lock is a known fault, and there is a workaround. The council acknowledges that “some people have been having issues with the lid and handles” of the new outdoor caddies. The caddies arrive locked; the handle moves to the back to unlock. There are two locking positions, handle upright or handle forward, and if yours will not lock upright the council asks you to present it with the handle forward. A lid that looks slightly warped on delivery is put down to transport and should settle. A caddy that is genuinely broken should be reported to help.aws@adur-worthing.gov.uk, but be prepared to wait: replacements only go out once deliveries to every September-start household are finished.
You do not have to keep buying liners. Every household gets one free roll of compostable liners, and when that runs out the council says food waste can go into the kitchen caddy loose. If you would rather line it, kitchen roll or newspaper is accepted. Plastic bags and cling film are not, including for wrapping.
Nobody needs to be in for the starter pack. It is left outside the property, or outside your door if you live in a flat.
It is not a new charge. The service is covered by existing council tax, with central government funding the set-up, including the smaller trucks, staffing and the communications.
The general enquiries number for Recycling, Refuse and Waste is 01903 851729.
One number in the council’s own case for the service is worth repeating, because it is the part residents can act on: of the food waste currently found in Adur and Worthing bins, 70 per cent could have been eaten, 41 per cent of it because it was not used in time and 25 per cent because too much was cooked. The council puts the saving for an average family of four at an estimated £80 a month.
What it means for you
You do not need to do anything yet. The council is writing to every household whose collections start in September, and your specific start date will arrive with your starter pack and leaflet. (Adur and Worthing Councils, 3 August 2026)
If nothing arrives in August, you are in phase two. No letter or starter pack this month means your address starts later, and the council says it will be in touch with more information in due course. (Adur and Worthing Councils)
Your bin day stays the same. Refuse and recycling carry on fortnightly as now; the food waste bin is simply collected every week on one of those existing days. The council also says the food waste bin will always be emptied however little is in it. (Adur and Worthing Councils, 3 August 2026)
Choosing not to use it will not buy you extra capacity. The council says residents who opt out keep their fortnightly general waste collection but cannot put out additional bags of rubbish. Full guidance and FAQs are on the council’s food waste collections page.
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