HOUSEHOLDS in south Oxfordshire are on track to become the nation’s best recyclers.

Since the roll-out of its waste scheme six weeks ago, South Oxfordshire District Council now recycles about 70 per cent of household waste — more than any other district council in Oxfordshire — and among the best in the UK.

The scheme includes alternate weekly collections of waste and recycling from two wheelie bins and a weekly food waste collection for the first time in the county.

The district’s 57,000 households can now recycle more from their doorstep, including paper, glass, metal and plastic, leading to rocketing recycling rates.

A spokesman for the district council said: “We cannot confirm we are officially the best council because the league tables for recycling currently use figures from 2007/08, which show the top recycling rate as 58.4 per cent. The 08/09 figures are not yet available.

“(But) our recycling rate for the first five weeks of the new service was 71 per cent so we believe we may well come out on top.”

Figures released by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs show South Oxfordshire District Council recycled 39 per cent of waste in 2007/2008.

In the same year, Cherwell District Council recycled 47 per cent, Oxford City Council 35 per cent and West Oxfordshire District Council 28 per cent.

The Vale of White Horse District Council, which will roll out the same system as South Oxfordshire next year, recycled 32 per cent.

South Oxfordshire leader Ann Ducker said: “It’s greater than our expectations. We thought recycling would be around 60 to 65 per cent with the new system. The food waste collection and the bottle collection from the doorstep is helping a lot.

“But I think people are conscious of landfill and they realise it’s bad for the environment. They’ve wanted to join in with recycling and we’ve given them the facility to do that.

“We have to thank the people of south Oxfordshire for taking part and also for bearing with us while we’ve sorted out some of the teething troubles we’ve had with the roll-out.

“We hope people will continue to recycle, it can only be good for everyone.”

Mrs Ducker said the council would receive recycling credits from the Government for sending less rubbish to landfill for spending on maintaining and improving council services. It was too early to tell the full extent of the financial savings, she said.

She added: “If we continued to use landfill we would have been fined £70 per tonne from now. With the credits we can keep the council tax down. It’s a win-win all round.”

Jacinta Thorley, of Croft Road, Wallingford, a member of green campaign group Sustainable Wallingford, said: “We are pleased South Oxfordshire District Council is making a move to increase their recycling rates.

“We know lots of people have had challenges with it, but we are sure the community and the district council can work together to make it happen positively over the next few months.”