Oxfordshire County Council recycling: Four point plan adopted

The council - which was named the country's best performing disposal authority last year - unanimously agreed to a four point plan to improve its strategy on the issue.

Councillor Suzanne Bartington put forward a motion asking for four key points to be adopted at a meeting on Tuesday.

Dr Bartington - a Conservative representing Witney North & East - will now have her motion adopted by the Cabinet Member for Environment, Yvonne Constance.

The four points are: implementing a closer partnership working between constituent authorities; considering the benefits and any disadvantages of standardisation of collection; exploring measures to minimise the environmental impacts of domestic waste; encouraging public engagement initiatives such as clearer labelling to raise awareness and promote behavioural change among residents.

District authorities collect waste and county colleagues collect it.

Dr Bartington said: "Recycling is an important part of our waste strategy. We encourage residents to reduce, reuse and recycle.

"Materials that take us seconds to use can take centuries to break down - or never at all, so we need to do everything we can to divert from landfill."

In 2017/18, the council was named the best performing county council disposal authority in England for household waste recycling, with an overall rate of over 57 per cent.

The motion added: “Recycling delivers multiple environmental and health benefits, including conservation of natural capital, reduction in energy consumption and (reducing) emissions.

"However, performance could be further improved, through coordinated action to disseminate best practice."

The five county districts have different recycling rates, with South Oxfordshire coming top on 63 per cent, while Oxford City is last on 51 per cent.