Rubbish will be turned in to dust if a hi-tech Wandsworth Council trial works.

The borough has installed two waste sorters on estates in the first part of a trial of pyrolysis rubbish processors - a system borrowed from Royal Navy submarines to turn rubbish in to carbon dust.

Non-recyclable waste dropped down rubbish chutes lands in high-pressure containers that use heat and the lack of oxygen to turn it in to carbon dust, saving on landfill.

The first part of the trial is installing electronic sorters to make sure large items and recyclables don't make it in to processors.

If the sorters work, the council will install the PyroPure containers later this year.

Wandsworth Council's environment spokesman Malcolm Grimston said the trial was being paid for by PyroPure manufacturers Morgan Everett Ltd.

"This is a radical and exciting solution to the problem of the nation's ever growing waste mountain," Coun Grimston said.

"Wandsworth is currently the only local authority in the country to be exploring its potential, but if it works, then every council will be clamouring to embrace this technology.

"It is a simple and effective process that has worked very well in the limited applications it has been used in until now. We want to see if it can be expanded to work on a bigger scale."