The UK is working with Brazilian authorities to return more than 1,400 tonnes of toxic waste to Britain, the Environment Agency has said.

Head of waste Liz Parks said plans were being made to bring back the rubbish, but it could take a number of weeks.

An inquiry into how the waste, including syringes, condoms and bags of blood, was sent to three Brazilian ports has been launched by the UK.

The Environment Agency says those responsible could face prosecution.

Erm no.

A Brazilian opens two companies here in the UK and charges a lot of money to dispose of waste, only to transport it back to his home country to dump it.

!

When I visitied my mother, I was throwing stuff in the bin and getting shouted at, because the paper I was throwing away wasn't paper, well, it was but it was the wrong sort of paper, so it had to go into the general rubbish pile. The same for plastic bottles, instead of returning them to the shop to get a deposit back, I had to put them in the recycle bin - but the plastic bottle cap isn't plastic, well, it is plastic, but it is the wrong sort of plastic for recycling, so it had to go into general rubbish!

We don't have that sort of abiguity over here. All drinking bottles and cans have a deposit (except wine) and have to be returned to the shop, even one-way PET bottles. Plastic and metal are plastic and metal and go in the yellow bin, paper is paper and goes in the green bin (apart from sanitary paper waste, which has to go in the black bin), non-deposit glass (jam jars, wine bottles etc.) you take to the recycling point, vegetable waste (and egg shells) goes in the brown bin (or the garden compost) and the rest of general rubbish goes in the black bin.

Electrical waste and large items are collected by a special, free service by arrangement...

Yes we need a much better system over here. I agree that all bottles should have deposits and be returnable. If you could not buy goods with un-recyclable packaging then it would reduce waste overall. My general waste is very low. I barely fill a bin every two weeks.

Three men were arrested yesterday in connection with the alleged illegal export of 1,400 tonnes of hazardous household and clinical waste from Britain to Brazil.

The arrests in Swindon, Wiltshire, came as the Environment Agency said that it was reviewing rules covering the recycling industry because of concerns that companies were exploiting loopholes to avoid scrutiny.

I'm single so obviously I produce less waste than a family would, but my bin is still empty and hasn't been collected for 4 weeks. There will be one Tesco bag full in there on Monday.

It contains a couple of plastic trays and yoghurt pots, tetra packs and some fag ash. Everything else is recycled curb side.

It really bugs me they don't collect the tetra packs. I could easily go a whole year otherwise.

It takes me two weeks to fill up a pedal bin. It is not that difficult to do, and should be made much easier by banning packaging that cannot be recycled.