With the help of fortnightly collection of residual waste Oxford has gone from pariah to pioneer in hitting the magic target of recycling 40 per cent of all household waste, according to the Oxford Mail. The city achieved the target in June, just seven months after the revamped recycling scheme was launched. And those involved in its inception believe recycling rates can improve even more.

New figures showed that during June the city was recycling at a rate of 40 per cent. When the new scheme was launched amid widespread scepticism in November, the council said it hoped to double the annual rate of 19 per cent. But it was estimated it would take at least two years to achieve that figure.

City councillor Jean Fooks, executive member for a cleaner city, said: "This is only one month‘‘s figure, but we have seen a steady increase in recycling since the beginning of the year and to achieve 40 per cent so soon is great news.

"Once again it demonstrates the vast majority of Oxford residents have made good use of the new recycling services we have put in place. Since we introduced the new scheme, residents have recycled almost 11,000 tonnes of waste that before we would have dumped unnecessarily in landfill tips. Our field officers and enforcement team are out day by day, doing excellent work, helping people to play as big a part in the scheme as they can."

Eric Murray, co-founder of pressure group Crow, which wants a return to weekly collections, challenged the council‘‘s assertion that just one per cent of recycled waste was ‘‘contaminated‘‘ - such as plastic being thrown out with paper - and sent to landfill.

A council spokesman said the recycling rate was calculated according to a formula specified by Defra and the Audit Commission.