Biffa grant supporting statements

“I for one am in total support and fully agree that a dry food refill would be amazing for our village. I love the idea of furthering the knowledge of reducing and ways of benefiting our environment from our village. I also believe that bringing people together in community with shared values help promotes ways in which we can all work together to bring more ecological and sustainable living to the forefront of conversation.

Thank you so much for all the work you do Carrie for our courier of the world in spreading essential messages”.

Councillor Emma Beard

Horsham District Councillor for Storrington & Washington Ward

Bottle refill service at Chanctonbury Leisure Centre launched 2023

“As a Storrington resident, thank you for including Storrington in this proposal. We are very grateful.

I wanted to say that I 100% support this dry food refill initiative and believe it will be very beneficial to the environment and our community. It will save packaging, CO2 emissions and waste, and as such it can only be a very good thing!

I wish you all the best with the application and look forward to the outcome.

Once again, thank you for all the work you do around promoting and increasing sustainable living. It is truly wonderful and much appreciated”.

Best wishes,

Claudia Fisher

Horsham District Councillor for Storrington & Washington Ward

Eco Float at Chanctonbury Leisure Centre bottle refill launch event

“Yes, a food refill service would be great.  I know that there is a refill shop in Pulborough – The Greenhouse, where the butchers, just south of Sainsbury’s on Stane Street, but that isn’t particularly convenient for Storrington residents unless they have their own transport.  There is a bus stop nearby but the 100 Bus that does go between Storrington and Pulborough is, at best, hourly.  

I think the leisure centre would be a great location.  It is reasonably close to a densely populated part of the village so a lot of people could walk to it, and those further away could drive and park in the fairly large leisure centre car park.  Anyone a little braver could cycle or perhaps part walk and part cycle.  I think I would be keen to use it – I am astonished at the amount of plastic packaging I periodically need to take to the recycling point at Tesco in Pulborough,

Joan Grech

Horsham District Councillor for Storrington & Washington Ward

“Getting a dry food return and refill service is non-existent  in Storrington but would be very valuable, helping to educate the community and reduce the amount of plastic waste.

Unfortunately I can’t include this at the Repair Cafe due to lack of storage space, similarly the Community Market, though maybe we could discuss amount of storage required… The Community Market, being weekly, would be good.

The other project just starting up is in Thakeham, called Thakeham Thrives, one Wednesday afternoon a month in the Village Hall.  Again, I’d have to check re storage…..

I know Thakeham is not Storrington, but with all the encroaching housing, it won’t be long!

So yes, fully support your idea as there is a real need.

Thanks”.

Fiona McConnachie 

Thakeham Parish Councillor

Fiona runs Storrington Repair Cafe and is our recycling volunteer in Thakeham and at the Storrington once a week indoor market

Fiona our recycling volunteer in Thakeham & Storrington

“Storrington & Sullington Parish Councillors feel it would be beneficial to the community and to the environment also, mindful of the complex and multiple challenges regarding excess packaging, waste disposal and single-use plastics”.  

From the Clerk at Storrington & Sullington Parish Council

Mini pop up at Partridge Green Repair Cafe

Testimonial: Building a Greener Community at Rosehill

Implementing a hard-to-recycle plastic initiative and hotbin composting at Rosehill has been challenging, but the impact has been remarkable.

A couple of years ago with the help of Sussex Green Living (SGL), our retirement community Rosehill started ‘building a greener community’.

SGL helped us introduce a private recycling collection for hard to recycle plastics. Initially, many residents were hesitant, struggling to understand the complexities of these materials. However, over time, awareness has grown, and residents now recognize that these waste resources are not simply rubbish. By collecting materials in their small homes and placing them in the correct bin in the garage, they have seen firsthand the scale of the problem.

SGL has multiple community hard to recycle drop-off locations, both open to the public (about 20) and private. With the help of SGL’s founder Carrie Cort’s Mother who lives at Rosehill we have set up a private drop-off in one of the garages. Residents are able to put Terracycle and supermarket materials in bins in a garage. These are sorted and then dispatched to the supermarket or SGL recycling hub in Horsham.

SGL instigated these educational sessions at Rosehill:

  • Carrie has run some sessions and talks.
  • SGL’s Billingshurst public drop off recycling volunteer, the cofounder of BilliGreen the village Environmental Group has supported the education and sorting. SGL helped to form this group.
  • One of SGL’s Horsham recycling volunteers who is a trained WSCC waste prevention advisor Caroline Holder has run a session.

A significant outcome has been the improvement in recycling habits not just in our dedicated initiative but also in the West Sussex County Council bins. More importantly, environmental awareness has become a regular topic of conversation at Rosehill’s social gatherings. We run coffee mornings and raffles to fundraising for SGL, this played a vital role in reinforcing the importance of sustainability and supporting this essential charity.

About seven months ago, Carrie approached us with the idea of running a HotBin food composting trial as she knew West Sussex County Council were looking for a community location for a trial, and we agreed. WSCC supplied all the equipment and training. At one point we were really struggling. Carrie having been part of a household hotbin trial, stepped in and saved the day, rolling up her sleeves to help us get the mix right and refining our management of the bin. Although we have found we will not be able to continue with the community hotbin due to practical reasons on the estate, the feedback to WSCC has been valuable and the results have been overwhelmingly positive. The activity attracted the attention and awareness of more than only the ‘Tremendous Trialist Team’, a number of residents, who were not involved in the trial, were continually asking when they would be able to make use of the bin.

For the Hotbin Team the thought, after the trial, of simply throwing all the kitchen waste into a ‘black bin’ really bothers them.  They have not only embraced the initiative but are now keen to explore additional composting methods, such as using a wormery. In response, Carrie has arranged for one of the charity’s volunteers to visit and explain how wormeries work. She will also introduce bokashi composting, further expanding our community’s knowledge and participation in sustainable waste management.

Four of the Hotbin Team who had not been aware (and not really been interested prior to the trial) of how much they could re-cycle, besides the Council re-cycling – right on the estate. They are now going to make sure they so some more careful sorting and recycling!

This journey has demonstrated that small, committed actions can lead to meaningful individual and community change. Rosehill is not just a place to live but it is becoming a hub for environmental consciousness and positive actions.

Tracey Andrew

Estate Manager at Rosehill, Billingshurst 03.02.25