A quiet revolution in home environmentalism is being introduced in Harrow, where its success or failure will be determined by public reaction to little green boxes.

This week, council employees have been busy delivering its boxes to 19,000 homes in the eastern side of the borough in an attempt to cajole people into separating their household waste for recycling.

Monday will see the official launch of the scheme and householders receiving the boxes will be told how they can separate their glass, cans and newspapers to good effect.

Unlike conventional rubbish, the green boxes will be emptied every fortnight: the specialist collection which costs £110,000 have come from a Government grant.

If the experiment works, the system could usher in a new era of environmental responsibility. If it fails, the blame will be placed literally at the doorsteps of the people of Harrow.

In that way, the scheme can be seen as a litmus test of suburban commitment to the principles of Agenda 21, the plan to introduce environmentally-friendly conduct on a local level across the planet.

According to Brynn Hodgson, Head of Harrow's Environmental Services, the green boxes are a big step forward in Harrow's plan to recycle more commonly discarded items.

"The more household waste that can be recycled, the less rubbish we have to put into landfill sites," he explained.

Public service union Unison, while welcoming the principle of home environmentalism, expressed concern over the introduction of the boxes and the feasibility of collecting the recyclable goods.

"The preparation for the introduction of green boxes has been slapdash and the level of publicity up until very recently has been negligible," said Unison branch secretary Lynda Anousis.

"We are not satisfied that sufficient mechanisms are in place to help workers separate the recyclable waste, which is to be put into the boxes willy-nilly and then sorted by category before it goes into the lorry."

There are also concerns that the lidless boxes will not prove popular with Harrow East's large population of elderly people: if the wastepaper becomes wet, they could become too heavy for many to carry.

Nevertheless, cleansing manager Andrew Baker is confident the launch will go without a hitch. "Even before the scheme is launched we have got a lot of positive feedback from local residents who couldn't wait for the scheme to be started," he said.

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