Recycling involves collecting materials that can be marketed to produce more products containing a percentage of recycled materials such as paper, cardboard, cans, glass and plastic bottles. The process means that less raw materials will need to be mined (metals) or grown (trees) and less energy will be consumed in the manufacture of the new products.

Reuse means to use again instead of throwing things away and this is even better than recycling as it extends the useful life of products and once again reduces the need for valuable and scarce resources. The Council is working with local charities to reuse more and more of our household waste, although the greatest tonnages recovered are recycled.

Composting is a natural process used to break down organic waste into a compost or soil conditioner. Sutton promotes home composting and in-vessel, windrow composting for the garden waste collected on the seasonal kerbside service.

Sutton currently recycles and composts 28% of its total household waste and this is the highest recycling rate in London but we need to do more. This is not just because the government has set us a 30% recycling rate to meet by the end of March 2006, but because it will be better for society as a whole if we make better use of our natural resources. We need to think locally but act globally and this is what Sutton Council is doing in providing the wide range of waste services that it offers to residents.