A WASTE recycling centre near Wallingford in south Oxfordshire has been refurbished.

Oxfordshire County Council has spent £700,000 doubling the number of containers and parking bays at Oakley Wood to reduce queuing times at the centre.

County councillor Ian Hudspeth, cabinet member for growth and infrastructure, officially opened the site on Friday — the last day of National Recycle Week — and the public were able to use the facility over the weekend.

Oakley Wood was closed since for three months while the refurbishment took place, but opened in time to complement South Oxfordshire District Council's new waste collection service, which started this month.

There are eight waste recycling centres in Oxfordshire and Oakley Wood ranks as the second best performing in terms of waste recycled by the general public.

Mr Hudspeth said: “It is one thing persuading people to take items to their waste recycling centre, it is quite another to provide them with a positive and hassle-free enough experience to persuade them to return on a routine basis.”

Waste recycling centres, including Oakley Wood, are open 8am to 5pm, seven days a week.

This month South Oxfordshire District Council became the first authority in the county to start collecting food waste for recycling.

Fornightly collections of all raw and cooked food, including meat, fish and diary products, are now being turned into fertiliser and used to generate electricity.

Carolyn Baxter, head of waste management Oxfordshire County Council, said: “We’re hoping to smash the county’s 43 per cent recycling rate.

“By the end of 2010, we hope to be one of the foremost recycling counties in the UK.”

tshepherd@oxfordmail.co.uk