The details are disclosed in 'Waste Side Story', a county council-made movie that can be seen on its website, and they include:

In one year, West Sussex threw away more than 400,000 tons of rubbish.

That's enough to fill Chichester Cathedral four times over, cover the runway at Gatwick four times and fill around 55 double-decker buses.

375,000 tons of that rubbish went to landfill, which is bad for the environment and costly.

By 2020, the county council will be allowed to landfill only 130,000 tons of household rubbish a year – go above that and the county will face heavy fines.

Phil Russell, head of waste management, said the penalties were severe – £150 a ton for every ton over that figure.

Waste Side Story emphasises one way to avoid burying rubbish in large holes is to recycle it.

"You'd be amazed what can be used again. Glass can be turned into road laying material – 14 million bottles make up the M6," says the video.

"We're getting better at recycling in West Sussex. In four years the recycling rate has rocketed – from 22 per cent to 36 per cent, which is above the national average."

The video also looks at the council's household waste recycling sites, which are being rebuilt or refurbished, and the new multi-million pound plant at Ford.

It admits that not everything thrown away can be recycled. "But it can be turned into a resource, such as compost, gas or electricity. A contract will be signed to build a waste treatment facility to do just that," it says.

"However, so far no decision has been made about what sort of facility that will be, or where it will be located."