FAR from stagnating (Letters, October 13), recycling in Oxford has leaped forward under Labour.

Three-and-a-half years ago when the Lib Dems were running the city, with Green Party support, Oxford residents recycled a little over a third (36 per cent) of their rubbish. By the end of August this year, with Labour in charge, we were recycling getting on for half (45 per cent) of our refuse.

Oxford residents throw away less than most people in the country and the amount is shrinking year by year. We are sending less and less to landfill sites.

Labour has introduced the all-in blue recycling bins and the weekly food waste collections. Of course we need to do better still. But it is hardly ‘stagnating’.

We all regret having to charge for the collection of garden waste in brown wheelie bins, but when the coalition Government is cutting the city council’s grant by a quarter in two years we have little choice.

Anyone on housing or council tax benefit is exempt from the £35 charge. In fact, more than 12,000 Oxford households are now part of Labour’s new garden waste scheme. So a big thank- you to all Oxford’s recyclers.

The Green Party sometimes talks about the environment. Labour is getting on with the job and helping to create a thriving low-carbon economy.

JOHN TANNER (Labour Cllr ) Board Member for a Cleaner, Greener Oxford City Councillor for Littlemore & County Councillor for Isis