A LOCAL authority has been urged to stop sending plastic waste abroad after it was revealed more than a thousand tonnes of rubbish from Wrexham was shipped to Indonesia last year.

Large amounts of packaging waste are sent overseas from the UK each year on the basis that it will be recycled.

However, concerns have been raised that in reality it is being dumped in sites in countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.

A Freedom of Information request has shown that 1,122 tonnes of plastic bottles and packaging collected by Wrexham Council was sent to Indonesia in 2018/19.

The waste travelled thousands of miles across the globe to the district of Pasar Kemis, Tangerang after being offloaded to a company called Kier, which has sites in Ellesmere Port and Winsford.

Environmental campaigners have now called on the local authority to put a stop to the practice.

Friends of the Earth Cymru spokesperson Bleddyn Lake said: “Sadly this situation goes to show we have a long way to go to solve the massive problem of plastic pollution.

“Recycling facilities must be situated in the UK – it’s not right to export our waste overseas.

“The answer is to drastically cut down the amount of plastic, especially single use plastic, we use in the first place.

“Some of the solutions aren’t exactly ground breaking either, even simple acts such as using a refillable coffee cup can help.

“We must do this for the sake of our wildlife and climate – because let’s not forget that making plastic products from oil increases climate-damaging emissions.”

He said that companies which produce plastic products should be made to pay for dealing with them after they’ve been used to ease the burden on local authorities.

A member of Wrexham Council’s ruling independent and Conservative administration insisted waste was only passed on to licenced facilities abroad.

Cllr David A Bithell, lead member for environment and transport, said the practice was carried out due to a lack of processing plants available in the UK.

He said: “The council’s waste management contractor, FCC Environment, will only use third-party disposal off-takers for waste materials that hold the relevant environmental and legislative permissions for transportation, handling and treatment.

“Due to a lack of processing plants and capacity issues within the UK, surplus material at the third party treatment facilities may be exported abroad to approved and licenced facilities, regulated by the appropriate agencies and recorded through the waste returns protocols.

“Outside of our contractual arrangements around the recycling and disposal of waste, we have taken a very proactive stance on plastic use, including setting up a plastic-free group within the council, and working with external partners and schools to reduce plastic use across the county borough.

“We also worked with FCC Environment to set up a re-use shop on Bryn Lane, and responded to two Welsh Government consultations on packaging.”