Campaigners have joined forces to wipe out potentially harmful landfill sites.

Zero Landfill has been set up by action groups in Thakeham and Washington, near Storrington, and Small Dole, near Steyning.

The campaigners hope to end the practice of burying rotting rubbish underground.

They say landfill is harmful to the environment because the breakdown of waste produces greenhouse gases. Landfill sites could also damage the health of people living close to them by polluting water supplies.

All the groups involved in Zero Landfill are opposing existing or potential tips in their own communities.

Small Dole has lived with a landfill site in one form or another for the past 40 years and residents had hoped contractors Viridor Waste Management would leave the site last month.

But they were appalled to learn West Sussex County Council had extended the licence to tip non-hazardous waste only yards from their home until 2010.

Small Dole Action Group spokesman Chris Warren said: "The landfill site has been there for two generations, harming our health by polluting the air we breathe. The sooner we stop land filling and start using alternatives, the better for everyone in Small Dole and everywhere else."

Thakeham Village Action campaigners hope the new group will end the threat of a potential landfill site at Laybrook Brickworks.

Chanctonbury Landfill Action Group was formed in 2006 to oppose proposals by Veolia Environmental Services to turn a sand quarry in Washington into a landfill site.

The site borders an area of outstanding natural beauty and is above an underground reservoir feeding the water supply.

Chanctonbury spokesman John Auckland said: "We are completely opposed to plans for a landfill site at Rock Common in Washington. It would devastate the quality of life in this area for decades. But no landfill site anywhere can be acceptable."

Zero Landfill was set up after a "waste summit" organised by Arundel and South Downs MP Nick Herbert.

He said: "I'm convinced Britain needs to kick its habit of dumping rubbish in landfill sites. We must reduce waste and move towards far greater rates of recycling."