I’D LIKE to say a big thank you to your readers who regularly recycle and limit the rubbish they create. In Oxford City we recycle a bit more each year and continue to throw away less and less.

Last year we recycled nearly half (46.9 per cent) of our rubbish, up from 46.25 per cent the year before. The average Oxford household chucked out 409kg of waste, compared to 415 kilos in 2014/15. But we could do even better.

Recycling and cutting waste saves the taxpayer money, is good for the environment and helps reduce our carbon footprint. It makes little sense to buy stuff we don’t need and then send it to the incinerator at Ardley. It makes no sense at all to burn rubbish we can recycle.

So there are two things I’d like all your readers to do. First, stop bunging everything into a big black plastic bag and popping it into the green wheelie bin. Please take the time to put the cans, paper, bottles, and other recyclables, into the blue bin.

Second, especially in warm weather, never put any food left-overs in your green bin. Put your unwanted food into your lockable food-waste caddy. The city council will empty it every single week. Your food leftovers will go to make compost and electricity.

Together we can push that recycling target over the halfway mark and throw away much less. What’s more if they join the city council’s ‘Blue Bin Recycling League’ your readers could even win a prize.

JOHN TANNER

Labour board member for a Clean & Green Oxford

Sunningwell Road

Oxford