Brighton and Hove only manages to recycle 11 per cent of its rubbish, a third of the proportion achieved by rival resorts such as Bournemouth.

Why is the record so poor? It's partly because there is no doorstep recycling scheme in the city.

While some people are prepared to take their bottles, papers and tins along to tips for recycling, most are not.

But many more people will be persuaded to recycle if they can be given containers for separating materials at their own homes.

There are problems in Brighton and Hove for recycling. The city has an exceptionally high proportion of bedsitters and flats where people tend not to bother about recycling.

It also has a lot of terraced housing and it's harder to drag recycling crates through a house than to leave them for collection outside a detached home or a semi.

So it's good news that the council is to introduce a recycling scheme that will eventually cover the whole city.

Brighton and Hove, along with neighbouring East Sussex County Council, has a big and urgent problem with how to dispose of rubbish when tips are nearly full and incinerators are unpopular.

One of the obvious answers is recycling. If the city could recycle half or even two thirds of its rubbish, and this is not impossible, there would be huge reductions in the amount of rubbish tipped.

Although initial costs of recycling are high, in the long run it will also save cash for all residents too.