Community leaders are worried after the government said it wants two million tons of rubbish from the capital to be disposed in the county.

The Department of Communities and Local Government has endorsed a proposal by the South East England Regional Assembly that West Sussex takes 1.23m tons of London rubbish between now and 2015 and nearly 700,000 tons between 2016 and 2025.

Henry Smith, leader of West Sussex County Council, has vowed to fight the plan.

Councillor Smith said: 'Any government endorsement of this rubbish proposal is outrageous and unacceptable because our county is a UK pace-setter when it comes to recycling, waste prevention and reducing the amount of rubbish that goes to landfill.

'This is a serious threat to our highly-successful efforts – efforts we have vigorously pursued in the long-term interest of the economic and environmental wellbeing of our county.

'Because of this, we will continue to fight these proposals, which, as we said all along, exposed the South East England Regional Assembly as an organisation that was not committed to the interest of its members.

'I will be pressing for this issue to be raised at the next meeting of the Greater London Assembly and ensuring our views on this proposal – which has countywide opposition – are made clear in the corridors of Whitehall.'

West Sussex County Council already arranges for the recycling or disposal of 450,000 tons of waste collected annually by district and borough councils.

Cllr Smith added: 'The onus should be put on London to seek effective ways of managing its own waste – and not to use West Sussex and our neighbours as the capital's rubbish tip.'