COUNCIL savings made from household recycling should go to charity to encourage more re-use in the home, councillors have said.

A study said Oxford City Council should give some of the money it keeps by avoiding landfill taxes to charity.

The council has said high recycling rates are vital to stop it sending rubbish to landfill, incurring the tax.

The “positive community incentive campaign” is among recommendations from the council’s scrutiny committee to increase recycling levels, to encourage residents’ recycling and ruling out fines for not recycling.

It said £27,000 saved from the closure of Oxfordshire Waste Partnership should go on education campaigns aimed at students.

In 2012/13 the city council recycled 44.9 per cent of waste collected, up from 19.4 per cent in 2005/06.

The report will be discussed by the committee at 6pm tonight at the Town Hall. The public can attend.