A total of £900,000 is to be spent this year so that west Oxfordshire can catch up on national targets for recycling.

The money is being put into the district council budget to increase the amount of kerbside collections of household waste.

It will enable the current weekly wheelie bin collection to continue, but the extra service will be in the so-called "black boxes" for recyclable waste.

Instead of the existing fortnightly collection of just one box for paper and glass, each of the district's 39,000 homes will be issued with another box for cans and plastics.

Both boxes will be emptied on a weekly basis in future.

Latest figures issued by the Government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) show West Oxfordshire is behind most other local councils in its performance on recycling.

The national average for the percentage of waste sent for recycling is around 15 per cent -- west Oxfordshire reached 12.4 per cent. Oxfordshire as a whole attained 14.7 per cent.

District council leader Barry Norton said: "We are behind others and we need some catching up.

"The European targets handed down to national government and then on to us is to reach 18 per cent by 2005, and 30 per cent by 2010.

"There will be financial penalties if we do not reach them.

"People generally seem to be in favour of more recycling, but it does cost money. The extra service we are providing adds £900,000 on to our budget, equivalent to £23 a year Band D council, tax."

The service will be provided under a new contract drawn up with waste disposal company Cleanway.

A new initiative the council is piloting involves pubs, clubs and hotels putting their beer and soft drink bottles into the recycling chain.

A trial 'Glass Goes Green' project is involving 25 licensed premises in a joint initiative between the council and Oxford Brookes University.

A recent survey found that glass accounted for nearly a third of the 2,350 tonnes of rubbish produced by licensed premises in West Oxfordshire every year.

The trial involves special recycling bins at premises.