Farce of the recycled waste Britain exports thousands of miles

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Nearly 13million tons of paper, plastic and metal were shipped to 75 countries last year, including Guinea, Libya and Azerbaijan, according to Treasury documents obtained following a Freedom of Information request.

With households now producing record amounts of recyclable waste, private companies employed by councils to process Britain's rubbish are unable to cope.

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Piled high: Recyclable waste is loaded on to a vessel at Liverpool docks

Instead, they sell the waste to developing countries who use it to manufacture new products.

Environmental campaigners said the millions of miles clocked up by "waste ships" would generate huge levels of carbon emissions while critics are demanding to know why councils are employing increasingly aggressive methods to meet Government targets on recycling if they can't deal with current levels.

Shadow Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said: "It is farcical that Ministers have resorted to exporting rubbish to places as far away as Libya."

Turkey is the most popular destination, taking 2.4million tons of metal, 260 tons of plastic and 13 tons of paper.

China is next with 1.9million tons of paper, 390,000 tons of metal and 78,000 tons of plastic.

Other bizarre destinations for British rubbish include Ghana, Vietnam and Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.

Campaigners are worried as EU rules do not force companies to check that waste is recycled on arrival.

Dr Michael Warhurst, of Friends of the Earth, said: "Councils and businesses have a moral obligation to find out where the waste is going."

The Local Government Association said: "Councils are committed to making sure all possible recycling is done in the UK.

"But companies will exploit overseas demand for recyclable waste."

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment said: "The export of waste for disposal (as opposed to recycling or for energy recovery) abroad is illegal."