Observer column 19 June 2026

Cllr Becca Horn, lead councillor for Community Safety and Environmental Services

I’m excited and energised to be leading on our waste and recycling in Hastings. It’s a service that we all use but most of us don’t think about it, unless something goes wrong.  

Confession time: I am odd. I think about rubbish every single day. 

It makes me sad when I see litter strewn across our streets: cans clattering, bottles rolling. I get frustrated when I see items dumped which, from tyres to toys, could be put to good use. 

That’s why I want to start a conversation in our town. I want to ask the question: 

“Hastings & St Leonards – are we rubbish?” 

Personally, I don’t think we are. I think we’ve got SO MUCH POTENTIAL - there’s a lot of wasted potential in all the materials that we throw away, that’s for sure! 

Take our new food waste service – did you know? Since the service launched in April, we’ve already collected more than 370 tonnes of food across Hastings. That’s saved around 75 adult African elephants’ worth of rubbish from simply being incinerated. Instead, it gets composted – and that compost feeds our soil, which grows our food. 

It’s created a food cycle! 

Now – imagine if we could do the same for all the other stuff we throw away? 

Historically, Hastings has had low recycling rates. As well as reducing fly-tipping and street litter, this is something I’d really like to change during my time as portfolio holder. I know that there are barriers to making better choices about where we put our waste, and that’s something I want us to explore together, as a community. 

My plan is to find lots of ways for us to talk about our waste: where it comes from, what we do with it and why. Watch this space for some exciting ways to get involved. 

In the meantime, please keep reporting all your waste and recycling issues on MyHastings. Pretty much any issue can be reported here: street litter, fly-tipping, dog mess, missed collections and missing containers, full bins, and rubbish on private land. 

Reporting on MyHastings is the quickest way to deal with the issue and it helps our waste team detect patterns – if there’s a recurring problem, they can pick up on it. 

One more thing, before I go - together, I firmly believe we can reduce waste and increase our re-use and recycling in our town. For the benefit of our people, our pockets, and our planet. 

Got an idea? Disagree? Let’s have a conversation. Cllr.becca.horn@hastings.gov.uk