Two British companies are being investigated over the discovery of 1,400 tonnes of hazardous waste from Britain at Brazilian ports.

Worldwide Biorecyclables and UK Multiplas Recycling, which share a director and are based in Swindon, were named by Brazil’s environment inspectorate, Ibama, as being involved in the suspected illegal shipment of toxic hospital and household waste.

In the Brazilian port of Guarujá, near São Paulo, The Times was shown 25 containers yesterday crammed with rubbish from overseas. A crushed bottle of Lucozade and an empty orange juice carton offering the promise of a ticket to the “BBC Sports Personality of the Year” betrayed the origin of one consignment.

A box of DVDs entitled Rapid Climate Change boasting the logo of Britain’s National Environment Research Council lay on another pile. Empty Tesco milk cartons and bags of sand and gravel bearing the name of a British company and its telephone number peeked from a container.

Ibama said that it was considering legal action against the companies. The Environment Agency also said it would investigate once it had received details from its Brazilian counterpart.

The Brazilian companies that received the waste claimed to have been expecting recyclable plastics. Ibama found syringes, condoms and nappies in the containers.

Worldwide Biorecyclables is a plastics recycling company that “compresses, bales and exports all types of plastic to our partners in South America”, according to its online biography. It is known to have collected household plastic waste from across Wiltshire.

The company was founded by Julio da Costa and Andre de Oliveira, who came to Britain from Brazil six years ago. Neither was available for comment yesterday.

Last year Mr de Oliveira said the company recycled “anything from a Coke bottle, to a meat tray, to a toy or even a gardening chair.” The company claimed to be able to recycle up to 95 per cent of plastics sent to landfills.

UK Multiplas Recycling was registered with Companies House at the end of March this year. It also claimed to be able to recycle all types of plastic.

Daniel Corticeiro, a former site administrator at Worldwide Biorecyclables, was appointed secretary of UK Multiplas Recycling in April but resigned three weeks ago. Mr da Costa, director of World Biorecyclables, is also listed as the director of UK Multiplas Recycling. Mr Corticeiro was also unavailable for comment.

The authorities in Brazil also named a Brazilian company, Fox Cargo do Brasil, as part of its investigations. They said that the company had been working as an intermediary for Safco Services, a Suffolk-based freight- forwarding company. Keith Beadle, the managing director, denied any wrongdoing on Safco’s part.

He said: “The Brazilian authorities have not contacted us yet. We’ve done nothing wrong, and if anything has gone untoward, then we have been misled by people. We’re a freight-forwarding company. We rarely get involved with hazardous materials and we have very little involvement in Brazilian ports.”

The European Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive bans the export of any electrical item unless it is working. The Environment Agency belatedly began enforcing the directive in 2007 after a two-year delay. The agency has brought only one successful prosecution for the illegal export of electrical waste. Another eight people have been charged.

Last month the agency and police raided two sites owned by the same company, Ezy Store, in Rainham, East London, and a farm near Upminster, Essex. They inspected 500 containers and found old TVs, computers and fridges. The agency said it suspected that they were destined for Africa. About 50 people were questioned but so far no one had been charged.

Chris Smith, of the Environment Agency, said that stop notices had been placed on several shipping containers from the two sites preventing them from being moved.

Speaking about previous cases, he said: “Our investigations have found that the majority of this equipment is beyond repair and is being stripped down for raw materials under appalling conditions in Africa.”

The agency has stepped up its enforcement in the past six months after recruiting a 20-strong team of former intelligence officers and detectives. They are carrying out surveillance on several sites, with more raids expected in the next few weeks.

Of the 900,000 tonnes of electrical items thrown away last year, only 408,000 tonnes were collected and treated in accordance with the directive. Most of the rest is believed either to have been dumped illegally in Britain or sent overseas.

The poison cupboard

When electronic equipment is stripped down to recover metals, such as the small amounts of gold and other precious metals in circuit boards, hazardous materials are released including:

- Antimony oxide used as a flame retardant and a component of some plastics. Contaminates water, air and soil. Exposure to high levels results in symptoms similar to arsenic poisoning, including heart and lung problems, stomach ulcers, diarrhoea, vomiting, irritation of eyes and lungs

- Beryllium used in copper-beryllium alloys used to make springs, relays and connections. Workers who inhale it may develop Chronic Beryllium Disease (CBD), a serious and sometimes fatal lung disease

- Cadmium used in contacts, switches, wire insulation and nickel-cadmium batteries. It can accumulate in food crops and is highly toxic, causing lung cancer, damaging kidneys and bones and contributing to heart disease

- Lead used as solder on circuit boards and in glass of cathode ray tubes (CRT). A single CRT monitor can contain 3kg of lead, may leach out from landfill or be released through burning. Causes irreversible damage to nervous system and brain, especially in children

- Phthalates used in flexible plastics such as PVC, inks, adhesives, paints and surface coatings. Thousands of tonnes released each year in Europe. Accumulates through air and dust. Contributes to asthma and eczema and damages the liver and kidneys

Sources: Greenpeace, National Pollutant Inventory (Australia), Times database

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