Worthing food waste collections start weekly from September

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)

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)

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.