Plans to generate cash from trash, reduce waste and encourage more recycling in council blocks have been published by Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

The draft proposals are intended to clean up the streets in time for the 2012 Olympics and cut council tax bills by eliminating landfill waste by 2025, saving £90m per year in the process.

“Some of London’s boroughs are taking pioneering strides forward to boost their recycling rates, however overall in London we are really lagging behind,” Mr Johnson said.

“I want to work with borough councils to harvest the massive economic potential coming from London’s waste both to save money off the city’s bills and to improve our environment.”

Members of Wandsworth Friends of the Earth (WFoE) will be among those responding to the plans at a public consultation later this year.

A WFoE spokesman said: “Bold measures are needed to make Wandsworth and London truly sustainable communities, so that future generations don't have to pay the price of this generation's wastefulness in use of energy and resources.”

Proposals include a £5m city-wide campaign to promote recycling and specific funds to developing better recycling facilities in blocks of flats and at least £8.5m to support schemes like freecycle and freegle, where users exchange unwanted household items.

Estimates suggest 1.7m such items could be diverted from landfill each year.

The London Assembly will discuss the draft strategy, named ‘London’s wasted resource’, until March 15. A revised strategy for public consultation is due to be published this summer.

London produces four million tonnes of waste every year but recycles proportionally less than any other region and less than other major European cities.