Sutton is well known for being the greenest borough in London, with pioneering initiatives like the BedZED development, the Ecology Centre and, on a more mundane level, a council that actually gets financial rebates instead of landfill levy.

In fact Sutton residents are some of the most environmentally aware in the country. We recycle more of our waste than all but one borough in London.

But there will always be some whingers (and from time to time they crop up in these pages).

It's all very well people talking about the recycling rate being higher in Bury St Edmunds but my sister lives up there and it's not exactly a fair comparison. They don't have anything like the issues we have here, and it's a lot easier for them out in the posher parts of Suffolk.

And I don't know that many Sutton homes that could find space for three wheelie bins, like they have up there.

I'm also quite thankful that ordinary residents don't face £1,000 fines for inadvertently putting things in the wrong bin, like they do in Barnet.

There's still plenty more we can do in Sutton, but we're streets ahead of most other places and for once perhaps we should give ourselves a deserved pat on the back.

SUSAN DODD Sutton