THOUSANDS of West Oxfordshire residents have signed up for a free green waste collection.

A quarter of the district’s 45,500 households are signed up to receive the garden waste collections, with others urged to follow in their footsteps.

More than 8,200 households have signed up for fortnightly garden waste collections since registration for the service started three weeks ago. A further 5,000 households that are part of West Oxfordshire District Council’s existing smaller, paid-for garden waste service will automatically receive free collections.

The collections are being offered to all households in West Oxfordshire from November 2010, but residents need to sign up for the service.

Stalls have been set up in Carterton, Witney and Woodstock during the past fortnight to give passers-by the opportunity to join on the spot.

Recycling and waste advisers have been at the stalls to answer questions about the new service and will be out and about across the district in the coming weeks to reach as many residents as possible.

David Harvey, cabinet member for environment, said: “We are extremely pleased that so many people have signed up for free garden waste collections in such a short space of time.

“We want to give everyone the chance to receive this service and I would encourage anyone who has not already signed up to register now. We have received some really positive feedback about the service so far and we are looking forward to its introduction in November.

“As well as helping the environment, this will give our residents a convenient, easy way to dispose of their garden waste.”

All garden waste collected will be composted, helping to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. When landfilled, garden waste rots and produces harmful greenhouse gases and pollution.

The free fortnightly collections are being introduced as part of a new recycling and waste service that will be rolled out across the district from November.

This will include weekly food waste collections, weekly black box recycling collections and fortnightly rubbish collections, alternating with fortnightly garden waste collections.

All households that sign up for garden waste collections will have a separate wheelie bin for green waste such as grass and hedge cuttings.

Currently, 34 per cent of West Oxfordshire’s waste is recycled. It is estimated that the new recycling and waste service will almost double this rate within a year.

From April 2009 to March 2010, 2,633 tonnes of garden waste was collected in West Oxfordshire and diverted from landfill under the current garden waste scheme.

To join up visit westoxon.gov.uk/garden or call 01993 861025