By Jane Mower BBC News. London

Councils are under pressure to meet government targets

Londoners recycle just 11% of their rubbish - a figure which must reach 25% by 2005 to meet government targets.

Recent figures show Tower Hamlets, Newham, Hackney and Barking and Dagenham are among the 10 worst councils for recycling in England.

Bins fitted with barcodes, recycling boxes with weight sensors and even �1,000 fines are among the tactics being used to boost recycling.

Prove commitment

Councils are facing close scrutiny after the government published local authority recycling and composting rates for 2003/04 in January.

They have until March to prove their commitment to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) or face intervention by teams of advisors.

THE BEST RECYCLERS Sutton Hillingdon Richmond upon Thames Bexley Bromley Camden London Corporation Kinston-upon-Thames Wandsworth West London Waste Authority

In the north London borough of Barnet, it will be compulsory for every resident after 1 March to recycle glass bottles, jars, tins, cans, paper and magazines or face a �1,000 fine.

It is hoped this will drastically increase the amount recycled through the council's kerbside collection scheme.

Southwark Council in south London has been awarded �34.5m of government money to help build a state of the art treatment station.

The facility will remove recyclable materials from household waste then process the rest into soil conditioner or fuel.

High-rise flats

For the 2,000 people living in tower blocks in Clapham Park in south London, a doorstep collection of recyclables was introduced offering residents an alternative to carrying items to the ground floor.

This proved a success as household recycling on the estate increased eight-fold.

Tower Hamlets had the worst recycling rate in London, attributed largely to the number of high-rise flats.

Barcodes will be used to identify areas with poor recycling levels

The council said it recognised there was "a lot of work to do to encourage local people to recycle rubbish".

Last year an extra 15,000 homes were added to the Doorstep Recycling Scheme, taking the total number to 45,000, of which 57% take part.

An extensive programme of education has also been launched.

South London's Croydon Council has fitted every waste bin with a microchip which calculates the weight of rubbish being collected.

This allows the council to identify areas that have lower levels of recycling which can then be targeted with leaflet campaigns.

Over 100,000 homes, out of a possible 135,000, have green recycling boxes and they hope to provide 65 new mini-recycling sites for flats by April.

An appliance reuse centre is also to open where white goods and furniture will be reused and supplied to charities and local groups.

THE WORST RECYCLERS Tower Hamlets Newham Barking and Dagenham Hackney Southwark Islington East London Waste Authority Lewisham Brent Haringey

Bexley Council in south-east London fared well in the recent figures but a system of bar-coding has been introduced to further improve their figures.

All recycling bins and boxes have a barcode sticker which will be scanned to gauge recycling rates.

The information will be used to target resources and information at those areas that will benefit most and to monitor the effectiveness of collections.

However the council stressed that "Details on the recycling habits of individual households cannot be gathered reliably using the system and this is not the reason the scanners are being introduced."