By Aaron Moon

As I bent down to pick up the recycling box, I knew that I would not be able to walk very far without taking a rest.

The sheer weight of the container and its contents felt as though it was ripping my arms away from my shoulders. I struggled down the side of the house, trying to ignore the beads of sweat now running down my face.

Opening the wooden gate unearthed a nest of woodlice which fell on to my feet. As I picked up the box again, now aware that I was visible to the whole street, I tried to look relaxed and composed, as if I had barely noticed I was carrying a mass weight, threatening to stretch my arms by a couple of inches.

I edged closer to the pavement where I had been instructed to leave the recyclable waste and walked through a cobweb that stuck to my now sweaty face like glue. Almost hurling the box down to the floor, I wondered whether recycling was worth the sheer physical endurance I would have to undertake every week.

However, fortunately so, it would seem the residents of Sutton do not share my lethargic feelings on the subject, with the council's target of recycling half of all the waste produced annually in the borough steadily edging closer.

Currently, the figure stands at 32 per cent, which is second only to Bexley out of all the London boroughs. Sutton Council has high hopes of climbing to the top spot and is eyeing it even more hungrily as the Government plan to double the charges for landfill by 2010.

The council's latest weapon in beating the spiralling landfill costs is a huge machine called the Dano Drum, which can sort mixed waste from the brown wheelie bins, identifying the types of rubbish that can be recycled and separating it from the waste which cannot.

Large magnets separate the metal waste within the drum, adding an extra four per cent to the total of recycled materials. Organic waste, such as unused food or paper which is not clean enough to be put into the green wheelie bins, is screened a number of times before being composted and broken down by bacteria. The end material is then used as compost for land or used as a landfill site cover.

Sutton's Lib Dem MP, Tom Brake, visited the Beddington Lane waste plant last week and said how optimistic he was about the rise in recycled waste. Although efficient, the drum's success relies solely on the dedication of Sutton's residents who continue to put their recyclable waste out for kerbside collection. But Mr Brake was positive that more people could be won over to recycling.

"I think that at the moment it's a process of education," he said.

The visit to the waste plant comes just months after a Government report suggested households all over the country should be charged for the amount of waste they produce. Ideas stretched from residents having to buy different sized pre-paid refuse sacks, to the more technological where bins would be fitted with electronic chips which would weigh the amount of rubbish within them.

Mr Brake said that although they were still in discussions, he didn't agree with the idea of residents being charged with the amount of waste they produce.

"It's a very controversial debate," he said, "but if the charges did come in, I would be looking for reductions in the charges in Sutton for the people who do recycle. I'd prefer to see people given a financial incentive to recycle rather than a stick pushing them to do it."

Councils and well-known public figures are well aware of the potential PR disaster it would cause if they were to criticise or refuse to back something as overwhelmingly supported as recycling. But residents in Sutton have no such fears and not everyone, it seems, is as dedicated to recycling as the council.

James Curtis, 23, from Cavendish Road, admitted that he didn't recycle; not because he wasn't bothered about the environment but simply because the methods available were too inconvenient.

"I leave for work really early and get home quite late and the last thing I want to be doing is splitting all my rubbish up and putting it into different bins," he said. "I live in a shared house as well so it's just awkward. If they all started making the effort then I think I would probably feel guilty and try harder.

"I've only recently moved down from Nottingham and for the time being have more important things to do then worry about than whether my paper is in the same bin as my cans."

However, Mohan Vythialingam, 53, from North Cheam, said he had been recycling for a number of years and felt it was a necessary part of everyday waste management from home.

"I don't think it's that difficult," he said. "We have a brown bin for general waste and a green bin for the rubbish that can be recycled. It's not really a case of separating anything out; it couldn't really be any simpler.

"It would be the easiest thing in the world to dump all of my rubbish in one bin. But spending a couple of minutes a week separating it helps the environment, and if it can save us money in the long run then I'm definitely all for it."

Although Mr Vythialingam has accepted recycling as part of everyday life, Mr Curtis could be accused of letting the borough down.

The council is refusing to be dragged down the London league tables by apathetic residents and is also involved in a food waste trial.

So far about 2,500 properties are saving their food scraps and having it collected. Instead of simply being buried in landfill sites which are the cause for a quarter of all methane emissions in the UK, the waste is broken down and used to cultivate land. So far four London boroughs are participating in the trial, but Sutton is leading the way.

Although we are recycling more waste as a borough than ever before, the council knows it can still improve and is constantly embracing new technology and ideas to bring the 50 per cent target a reality, a figure which it is set to reach within the next few years.