Council is sending recycling to India and Thailand

More than 9,000 tonnes of waste from Buckinghamshire was shipped overseas in 2023

Buckinghamshire Council has been recycling waste in countries as far away as India and Thailand, new figures have revealed.

The authority sent paper to India, cans to Thailand, mixed plastics to the Netherlands and card to Turkey last year.

The items were among more than 9,000 tonnes of waste shipped overseas in 2023, according to data released by a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

A spokesperson for the authority said the majority of the county’s household waste was dealt with in the UK and that recycling had "clear benefits" for the environment.

The information obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed that a total of 37,196 tonnes of recycling were collected at the kerbside in 2023.

Of this, 34,078 tonnes were recycled by the council over the same period.

The council said the recycling was often taken into Europe via road travel

The authority said more than 95% of its household waste collected in Buckinghamshire was dealt with in the UK.

More than 130,000 tonnes of waste was dealt with inside the county, it said.

'Efficient'

The spokesperson added: "Once materials have been sorted, recycled materials become commodities in the worldwide market.

“This means that some materials may travel abroad where there are better developed industries for recycling.

“The small percentage of recycling sent outside of the UK is sent to be recycled. It travels by road to Europe and by sea if travelling further afield.

“Often the raw materials are part of a reverse logistics chain, which means they travel on lorries/ships that would otherwise be empty – which makes the transport more efficient.”