There is no question that our attitudes to waste have changed significantly in recent years. You do not have to think far back to remember the days when a trip to the tip was just that — everything was tipped into a skip and away it went to landfill.

Today, a visit to the likes of Redbridge recycling centre often demands a walk between various skips to dispose of waste in the appropriate place for recycling.

Nevertheless, it remains the case that the landfill option at the recycling centre is one of the most heavily used of them all.

We have been cajoled gradually into this position by the friendly operatives at the recycling centre and by the exhortations of our local authorities.

They have been pushing at an open door. We all see the sense in recycling and in avoiding burying mounds of waste in holes in the ground. Recycling centres too are conveniently located and laid out for us.

When you add in the new alternate-week waste and recycling collections that have been introduced across the county over the last two years, you can see there has been a revolution in our attitude to waste.

Unsurprisingly, use of waste and recycling centres has begun to fall — although the occasional queue at busy times is not unknown.

The question for us is: have our habits changed enough for Oxfordshire County Council to be able to have only one centre for general waste in the county at Kidlington?

We can see the workings behind the council’s decision. It clearly wants to be in a position where the amount of general waste is reduced to a minimum.

If you achieve that, then logically you do not need quite so many places to tip it.

Having only one place to take it amounts to something of a stick, particularly if you do not live close to Kidlington.

The challenge is to ensure that the carrot is there too.

That means ensuring that the recycling centres are equipped to accept all manner of recyclables big and small.

It means first-class communication on what we can take for recycling and how. And it means that we all need to be very clear about what services are available for taking waste away from our homes.