Waste collectors in Oxford picked up 65 tonnes of recyclable material that was contaminated and had to be sent to landfill between November and April.

Waste collectors are still finding that some people are putting the wrong items in their green and blue recycling boxes.

And, when that is the case, all the items go to landfill.

Now the message from those in charge of the city's so-called "recycling revolution" is pay attention to what you are throwing out.

City council recycling chief Shaun Hatton said: "From November until April we collected approximately 6,400 tonnes of recyclables.

"Of this one per cent - or 64 tonnes - was probably rejected.

"We are unable to measure the amount of rejected material on a day-to-day basis because much of our material is mixed with recyclables from other areas.

"However, reliable estimates indicate this is very low at around one per cent of what we collect."

Some green boxes, which are for glass bottles and jars, newspapers and magazines, are crammed with items like wood, plastics and cans.

And some blue boxes, for plastic milk, drinks and shampoo bottles, are being contaminated with other plastic that cannot be collected - like polystyrene, yogurt pots, margarine tubs, clingfilm and carrier bags.

Since new waste collection arrangements started in November last year, recycling rates have shot up from around 19 per cent to above 30 per cent.

In Swindon, between October 2006 and March, the council collected 9,561 tonnes of recyclable material of which three per cent was contaminated.

And during the same period in Reading, 7,977 tonnes of recyclable material was collected with 3.5 per cent rejected through contamination.

Mr Hatton said: "Green box collections are sorted by our employees and any unsuitable material is not taken - and therefore not weighed.

"Blue box collections are taken to a mechanical sorting plant.

"The operators appear to be happy with the quality of our material. They would be quick to contact us if there was a problem."

City councillor Jean Fooks, executive member for the environment and the woman in charge of Oxford's recycling scheme, added: "Congratulations are due to people for putting so little contaminated material out, it's a tremendous achievement so early on.

"Some of the contamination is because people are still not clear about what can and cannot be recycled - but that will come with time.

"Compared with other places this is a pretty good result, but it would be nice if it was even more."