A council has rejected residents' calls for it to hand out free recycling bins, saying the move would cost £1m.

Marie-Claire Haines is one of a number of people in north Oxfordshire who have complained that their small blue bins, for paper, tin and plastic, are not big enough.

She painted her brown garden waste wheelie bin blue in a bid to recycle more, but Cherwell District Council re- fused to collect materials in it.

Residents are objecting to paying £20 for a larger, blue wheelie bin.

Mother-of-three Mrs Haines, of Church Lane, Hampton Poyle, near Kidlington, said: "The boxes we were given in the first place were a waste of money. We need blue wheelie bins more than anything else. Fifty per cent of villagers here don't need the brown bin.

"People don't see why have to pay £20 for a blue recycling bin when they are given a brown bin for free."

Colin Bull, of Ashby Road, Bicester, said: "It is stupid red tape again. I pay my council tax for them to take the rubbish away. The council is saving money by me recycling and the rubbish is not going to landfill."

Norman Bolster said brown wheelie bins could not be used as blue bins because it would put at risk £1m of Government funding.

He said: "If we were to give every household in the district a blue bin it would cost about £1m, which would be the equivalent of £50 on the council tax for band D homes."

Mr Bolster said householders could put a council sticker on a surplus green bin, for general waste, designating it a blue bin.

He believed the brown bins would be used more in the next few months.