WASTE is set to sky-rocket over the busy Christmas period with the county’s binmen bracing themselves for the extra demand.

Oxfordshire County Council is expecting residents to generate more than 2,500 extra tonnes of rubbish this year and has launched a campaign to get this reduced.

It comes as the county came top in recently released Government stats listing the best performing authorities in England last year, in terms of the proportion of waste recycled.

At 57.2 per cent, residents were found to be better at recycling than Buckinghamshire (56.6 per cent) and Cambridgeshire (54.8 per cent).

The county is also top for reducing the amount of waste generated at home.

Becky Kenton-Lake, the council’s waste strategy projects officer, said: “We are really pleased and we want to thank all the residents.

“They get behind it and want to do it as much as possible but there is more we can do.

“We want to get to 80 per cent recycling, we can’t rest on our laurels.”

Extra waste at Christmas is fuelled by increases in the amount of food cooked, but not eaten, as well as packaging from online orders and wrapping paper.

While waste is collected by district councils, the county is in charge of treatment and processing and also leads initiatives to reduce it.

The Oxford Mail was given a tour of the Dix Pit household waste recycling centre in Stanton Harcourt, near Witney, to see preparations for the influx of waste over the next few weeks.

Mrs Kenton-Lake said: “We are always busier at this time of year.

“We have a lot of measures in place and are confident we can deal with it using our existing services.”

Among the items set to fill up the centre are Christmas trees and technical officer Rachel Townsend said some families can sometimes turn up on Boxing Day - when the centre is closed - to dispose of their once-treasured tree.

In the summer the centre launched a service to save re-usable items and find them a new home but Ms Townsend said she hopes she won’t see too many unwanted presents after December 25, recommending people donate to charity shops instead.