A NOVEL twist on green recycling has South Oxfordshire District Council officials seeing red.

A man in a white van has been stealing people's green recycling boxes from the kerbside and then selling them from his vehicle.

Fred Thompson-Brown, of the council's public amenities department, said: "We were alerted when this man called at two separate addresses which happened to be the homes of employees at Grundons, the council's recycling contractor.

"He was quickly sent on his way because they knew the boxes are free and contacted us.

"Unfortunately he left so quickly and we never found out how much he was trying to sell them for.

"We have had more than a dozen complaints of people saying their brand-new recycling boxes had not been delivered to their doors - now we know they were being stolen and recycled themselves."

David Dodds, cabinet member for public amenities, said: "This is clearly an unscrupulous act by an individual preying on the desire by residents to do their bit and recycle effectively."

He added there was no charge for the council's boxes and people who had them stolen could get free replacements.