Oxford residents have been bitten by the recycling bug and are bombarding the city council with requests for more recycling boxes.

More than 3,000 have already asked for green boxes ahead of the launch of expanded recycling collections.

The city council planned to deliver boxes to homes in phases, as the new regime is introduced area by area.

However, following the enthusiastic response, the council has issued all the boxes it has available, so that 1,000 homes can have one earlier than planned. The remainder will be delivered when new stocks arrive.

Jean Fooks, the council's executive member for a cleaner city, said: "This is encouraging news.

"To have an extra 3,000 green recycling boxes in the system, collecting newspapers, magazines, office paper, glass and textiles, will make a difference to the amount of material that's recycled, rather than dumped at landfill.

"It's a hugely encouraging response to our new service, which will give people the opportunity to recycle more and waste less."

People living in about 15,000 houses and flats in Carfax, Holywell, Jericho, Botley Road, Hinksey Park, Summertown, Wolvercote and parts of Marston, Headington and Headington Quarry are the first in Oxford to be covered by the council's 'recycling revolution'.

Next month, wheelie bins or special waste sacks and blue recycling boxes are being delivered, accompanied by a leaflet explaining what to put in which container, and a calendar showing the collection days for each area.