Residents in Oxfordshire are continuing to improve their recycling performance and are maintaining their position as one of the best in the country.

The first six months of the 2004/5 financial year has seen the county move from a previous average of about 20 per cent of rubbish recycled to 30 per cent, meaning the county and district councils are on target to meet Government targets for 2005/6.

A total of 160,500 tonnes of rubbish was thrown out by householders. Of this, more than 48,000 tonnes was recycled or composted.

The latest figures have been revealed against a background of stricter Government targets being imposed from next year on landfill.

The Government has told local authorities that landfilling must become a thing of the past.

Oxfordshire County Council is examining a range of options and has not ruled out incinerating waste.

Adam Symons, the council's head of waste management, said: "There was more recycling in the first six months of this year than in the whole of 2001.

"If we keep going we will be challenging European recycling rates."

Oxfordshire's Waste Management Group has been assessed by the Audit Commission as providing a good service - with excellent prospects for improvement.

The council encourages everyone to reduce, recycle and compost rubbish - and Government requirements mean the amount sent to landfill has to be drastically reduced.

More than 230,000 tonnes of household rubbish in Oxfordshire is landfilled, much of it at four sites in the county. By 2020, the figure must not exceed 55,000 tonnes.

The council provides eight waste recycling centres which are visited by more than 1.3 million people a year.

The sites hit the 50 per cent recycling mark for the first time in the first six months of the year.