Garry Alder is hoping Oxford's so-called "recycling revolution" helps him clean up... in more ways than one.

Fed up with walking past his smelly bins every day, the father-of-three hit on a business idea that he is now wheeling out across the city - pressurised bin cleaning.

Mr Alder, 43, of Ridgeway Road, Risinghurst, has spent almost £25,000 setting up Green and Clean in the wake of wheelie bins appearing on the city's streets for the first time.

But unlike the rest of us in Oxford, he is hoping the warm weather leads to even more smelly bins. That's because, at £3.50 a go, wheelie bins can now be put in the back of a van and cleaned using specialist equipment. Recycling boxes are also cleaned.

This is the first wheelie bin cleaning service in Oxford - and one of the first in the region - and customers have been calling after just two weeks in business.

Mr Alder said: "I was fed up with smelling my dirty bins and no one was doing anything about it, so I have.

"I will make money and at the same time provide a service. There is a genuine concern that bins smell.

"I have spoken to a lot of people who say they wrap their rubbish up - and that is fine - but the bin will still smell. There is no ventilation or drainage in these bins so water stays in and festers. It could be clean water, but eventually it will smell."

Mr Alder has already won an Apple Award for his business concept.

An explosion in maggots and rats was one of the major concerns before Oxford's wheelie bin revolution began.

No major incidents have been reported, but the scheme has yet to endure a long, hot summer. Last summer, before concerns about maggots in wheelie bins first surfaced, the Oxford Mail conducted its own experiment with a black bin bag.

The bag, containing food and other kitchen waste, was left in a sealed bin and exposed to the elements for a fortnight. We found that two weeks was more than enough time for flies to breed and thousands of maggots to crawl through the rotting debris.

Mr Alder joked: "I could do with a bit of sunshine to make the bins smell to be honest. It's a personal hygiene thing, people don't have the time to clean their bins and this is a service that's required.

"People take their cars to the car wash to be cleaned - and this is the same concept."

City councillor Jean Fooks, executive member for a cleaner city and the woman in charge of the new recycling arrangements, gave Green and Clean the thumbs up.

She said: "He has our full support, it sounds like a good service and a great business opportunity."