Review finds no evidence council breached laws after waste found in Malaysian tip

Recycling sacks issued by Milton Keynes Council found their way onto a Malaysian refuse tip through misuse rather than any deliberate act by the council or its contractors, an independent audit has found.

The issue arose in June when the BBC broadcast its War on Plastic documentary.

Presenter Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was shown with recycling bags from Milton Keynes and some other councils in a 6m-high pile of waste exported to Malaysia for disposal.

The council commissioned consultant Wood to try to find out what had happened.

It concluded there was no evidence of any breach of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 by the council or its contractors.

These are: Serco, collection; Viridor, mixed dry recycling treatment and disposal; AmeyCespa, residual waste treatment; Envar Composting, food and garden waste; HW Martins household waste recycling centres management.

Wood said it was impossible for the council to discover the destinations of the millions of sacks it issued each year given that many of them would not enter its waste system.

Bags could ‘leak’ due to rejection during manufacturing, misuse by the public and being bundled with waste plastic after use.

Wood recommended that Milton Keynes audit Amey’s systems at its waste recovery park and Viridor systems to fill in missing data.

The issues raised by the two companies were though deleted as commercially confidential from the published report.

Emily Darlington, cabinet member for the public realm said: “The report looks in great detail into our supply chain and into the actions of our contractors and confirms that we do not export waste to Malaysia.

“We hope this independent report encourages people to recycle. In Milton Keynes our recycling is processed properly and even our non-recyclable waste has a use, creating energy.”