The prospect of everyone in Brighton and Hove having a waste dump on their doorstep is being put forward as an alternative to a new central rubbish tip.

Campaigners fighting plans for a single waste transfer site and materials recovery facility in Hollingdean say the whole city should share the burden.

The development raises for the first time a realistic prospect that a defeat for waste contractor Onyx, which is applying for permission to build the Hollingdean site, would mean waste tips in communities across the city.

Friends of the Earth, the environmental group opposing Hollingdean, says it wants smaller storage facilities at Hollingdean depot, Hollingbury Industrial Estate, Shoreham Harbour, Sackville Road coalyard and the former gasworks in Kemp Town.

The organisation says the city's waste should be processed within the communities in which it is generated so that people will be more responsible about what and how much they throw away.

Alison Walters, of the Brighton branch of the Friends of the Earth, said: "We agree on the proximity principal.

"Could you not have smaller sites for communities so you spread the burden?

"The thing you need to be careful about is traffic but I think the opportunity exists for creative solutions."

The suggestion has been backed by Brighton and Hove's Green Party.

Keith Taylor, a city councillor and one of the party's national leaders, said: "We don't want one large facility. We should tackle the problem with smaller sites around the city.

"We are supporting the residents in Hollingdean with their opposition to this giant waste transfer site and materials recovery facility and we would support smaller facilities spread across the city."

The Hollingdean site would be used to store and sort the city's waste and recylables before it is transferred out of the city to centres where the materials are re-processed.

Campaigners living in the area launched a Dump the Dump campaign protesting about the plan, claiming it would increase traffic and pollution.

Hundreds of residents from Hollingdean have attended a series of public meetings to oppose the plan.

The site was highlighted as the preferred option for dealing with rubbish by the waste local plan and a spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council questioned the viability of the alternative sites.

He said: "This would increase the number of journeys required for vehicles taking refuse and recycling to its final destination, meaning more traffic for the city.

"The cost of planning, building and servicing five suitable facilities would be huge."

But Friends of the Earth believes Onyx and the council's in-house refuse service, Cityclean, could opt for electrically-powered vehicles to access the five smaller sites.

Ms Walters said: "Some people will always say not in my backyard' but the council seems wedded to the waste local plan and the contract and it is antiquated. I think they should review it."

Garry Peltzer Dunn, leader of the opposition Tory group on the city council, said: "It's an interesting scenario.

"There could be some things being said in favour of all the sites and equally, there could be things said against all the sites.

"I'm not quite sure what splitting up the sites would make better. There is no easy answer. We will have to find the answer which is the least unacceptable."

The options Friends of the Earth has suggested five brownfield sites in the city which could be used for waste transfer, some of which have already appeared in the draft Waste Local Plan.

The Hollingdean depot. This is simply a scaled-down version of the option already being pursued by Onyx for a huge centralised materials recovery facility and a waste transfer station.

Hundreds of residents are supported by city councillors and MP David Lepper in opposition to the proposal.

Sackville Road coalyard is highlighted in the draft Waste Local Plan as a possible "road-to-rail" transfer site. The plan says: "The site would provide an opportunity to reduce the traffic impacts of transporting waste to facilities for treatment or to a disposal site."

Shoreham Harbour. The draft Waste Local Plan recommends using rail or waterways as a method to transport waste while cutting down on lorry journeys. While it does not recommend Shoreham as the most suitable example, it does suggest the harbour as a possibility.

The plan says: "The transfer of waste on to water-bourne transport, either by sea or inland waterway, can also result in a net environmental benefit.

"There are three coastal ports within the plan area - Shoreham, Newhaven and Rye Harbour which may have the potential to play a role in this respect, subject to other planning policies."

l The former gasworks in Kemp Town, Brighton. This site is not in the latest draft of the plan. But it has been earmarked as a possible entry later on and has been protected against any other type of redevelopment in the meantime.

Roger Rolfe, of the Kingscliffe Society, said: "I think they are mad. Having smaller sites is not staff-efficient.

"This would upset five corners of the city instead of the one."

Hollingbury Industrial Estate was also a safeguarded site for future consideration and is highlighted as a site suitable for recycling, composting, mechanical-biodegradable treatment and anaerobic digestion.

But Brighton and Hove city councillor Brian Pidgeon, whose ward includes Hollingbury, said: "There is no room on the industrial estate. We are right up to the Downs there. These facilities are always difficult to site."