A RADICAL shake-up of Oxford's waste collection service could see households given one wheelie bin in which to throw all their recycled material.

Some families currently have to find room for six rubbish receptacles, but under a "fundamental review" of the city's rubbish rounds the number could be halved - with one bin for general waste, one bin for recyclable material and another for food waste and garden cuttings.

Oxford City Council - under new management since Labour won control after the elections on May 1 - has promised a "long, hard look" at the current set-up, claiming it is inflexible.

Recycling rates have soared since Oxford's so-called "recycling revolution" started in November, 2006.

Back then, just 18 per cent of all household waste was recycled.

The figure now is 38 per cent, but that is considered paltry by waste collection chiefs who think the city could - and should - do much better.

City councillor John Tanner, executive member for a cleaner, greener city, said: "We are looking at a number of possibilities to make the system simpler and easier to cope with.

"At the moment we are sticking with the present system, but we are going to take a long, hard look.

"There are three things wrong - there are too many grot spots outside people's houses, there are no decent recycling facilities for people living in flats and we are not recycling enough.

"As time goes on, we will make changes."

The Oxford Times understands one of the most radical changes could be the introduction of a wheelie bin for all recyclable material - instantly relieving households of the pressure to sort before they throw.

Homes would keep a wheelie bin for non-recyclable waste and have a receptacle for food and garden waste.

A pilot weekly food waste collection service is set to start in part of Oxford soon and if it is successful would be rolled out across the city next year.

Labour has said it would not revert back to weekly waste pick-ups, but will find extra money to target "problem areas".

City council leader Bob Price said: "Radical changes are being considered.

"During the election we found a lot of people with serious criticisms of the current scheme.

"We have been discussing a number of possible remedies and hope to produce a new system addressing the problems people are experiencing.

"In the meantime, we will be using our additional budget allocation to tackle the worst grot spots and mess."

Part of the shake-up could see households given a choice of having sacks instead of wheelie bins.

At the moment, households can have two blue recycling boxes (for plastic bottles, food tins and cardboard), two green boxes (for glass, paper and magazines), a wheelie bin (for non-recyclable waste) and a garden waste sack for free.

Residents can also buy a large, blue wheelie bin to replace their blue boxes.

However, families could opt to have lilac sacks instead of a green wheelie bin for the collection of non-recyclable waste and blue sacks instead of blue wheelie bins and boxes.

Liberal Democrat city councillor Jean Fooks, executive member for a cleaner city between May, 2006 and May, 2008, said: "A single wheelie bin for all recycled material would be convenient for a lot of people - provided we can find an outlet to sort it all.

"Other authorities have three bins - but it would not work in all places.

"This was our idea, not Labour's."

Bridge Street resident Eric Murray, co-founder of pressure group Collect Refuse in Oxford Weekly, said: "I have two green boxes and a blue box and they are all full by the end of the two week cycle - having a bigger bin is not going to help.

"They should bring back weekly collections, no doubt about it."