Shoppers have been urged to blow the whistle on retailers who wrap goods in 'wasteful' packaging.

The call, by trading standards officers, comes after a Government minister urged consumers to dump excess packaging at supermarket checkouts.

The county council's move coincides with the 'recycling revolution' in Oxford with the switch from weekly to fortnightly waste collections rolling out across the city - and people are trying to find ways of cutting back on the rubbish they put out.

To highlight the issue, the Oxford Mail spent £11 on everyday items to see how much packaging was wasted - and we found plenty of products that seemed to have too much.

The county council has urged consumers to take action.

Trading standards officer Richard Webb said: "There's particular legislation that controls packaging design to prevent excess waste, and it's our job to enforce this.

"Whoever is in charging of packing the item is responsible for ensuring waste is kept to a minimum.

"We can deal with examples of overpackaged goods in two ways.

"We can contact the relevant parties and advise them on what to do, or, if it's an example of gross overpackaging, it's a criminal offence, so we can take legal action."

Andrew Pau, the county council's head of waste management, said: "At the moment we create problems for ourselves as a society by allowing this kind of extravagant packaging to carry on as the norm."

Environment Minister Ben Bradshaw has also asked consumers to take off unnecessary packaging and leave it at the supermarket till.

He met supermarket bosses earlier this year and was told that they would try to cut packaging waste - Sainsbury's promised a five per cent cut in packaging by 2010.

Mr Bradshaw said supermarkets should do more. He added: "Until the supermarkets demonstrate clearly that they are willing to lead by example, we cannot expect consumers to get fully engaged with reducing their own waste."

This week, Asda said that it would sell fruit and vegetables loose in a bid to reduce packaging by a quarter by the end of the year.

Pressure has intensified with the National Federation of Women's Institute threatening to boycott stores that refuse to cut back on unnecessary packaging.

Report overpackaged goods by calling 0845 0510845.