Like a scene from The Good Life, four families have put their dustbins on a diet to reduce trash and help the environment.

Gone are the days when vegetables were thrown into the same bin as plastics, bottles and cans. Now waste is composted and newspapers shredded, in a purge on garbage.

Lydia Davis, 27, and James Braithwaite, 28, from Cooper Place, Headington Quarry, Oxford, halved their rubbish pile by feeding all organic waste into a large composter in the garden.

Lydia, who works in marketing at Oxford University Press, said: "It's really easy - it made us realise how lazy we were being before.

"We are enjoying having it, although it does look like a big Dalek standing in the garden."

The couple intend to carry on using the composter and are also looking at other forms of recycling.

Daphne Hounslow, 63, and her husband Bob, 65, from Squires Close, Brize Norton, have managed to squeeze their weekly waste into three carrier bags instead of seven.

Mrs Hounslow only has to put the bins out once a fortnight and they also have a composter for all their vegetable peelings and left-overs. She thought the scheme was a great idea which could put a stop to reckless refusing.

She said: "It encourages you to think twice before you throw anything away." The families agreed to recycle more and throw away less last year as part of Oxfordshire County Council's scheme to minimise waste.

Lisa and Aidan Kinahan, from west Oxfordshire, decided to reduce the waste they produced by only buying things in minimal or recyclable packaging.

Even county council chief executive John Harwood and his wife Diana took part in the scheme. They recycle newspapers by making them into briquettes for fuel. They also recycle cans, give aluminium foil to guide dog charities, put glass into bottle banks, keep jars for jam-making and use textiles for rags or take them to Oxfam.

County waste projects officer Becky Jolly said: "The county council hopes that other householders in Oxfordshire will be encouraged by these results and will try to follow the trial families' example.

"Think of the waste reduction that could be achieved within Oxfordshire if all households composted and used recycling facilities."

Story date: Monday 05 April

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