About 1,000 tons of “dry recyclables”, supposed to be glass, plastic and paper, were intercepted by authorities in Belgium, Holland and Northern Ireland and shipped back to the republic, according to a report on waste published by the Office of Environmental Enforcement (OEE) last week.

Among the offences detected were household waste being passed off as recyclables, and the presence of biodegradable matter which gave rise to odours. Other shipments did not have the appropriate documentation.

The containers were sent back to the private companies or the local authorities that exported them, with 42 being returned by Belgium and Holland and a further eight from the north.

“In relation to two of the containers from Northern Ireland, there was no evidence that they were being brought to an authorised waste facility and the authorities faced considerable problems with their repatriation,” the report said. “Given the nature of these problems, police protection was required on both sides of the border.”

Authorities in Rotterdam returned a shipment of shrink-wrap packaging destined for India because it had been wrongly classified. They also sent back a shipment of used disposable camera casings after discovering that the batteries in them had not been removed.

More than 130,000 tons of dry recyclables are being collected each year from green bins outside Irish houses and businesses, but Ireland has virtually no capacity to process them and they have to be shipped overseas for “recovery”. Much of it is thought to end up in China, where labour and environmental controls are lax.

The export of waste is governed by international law, but glass, cardboard and plastic are exempt if they are properly separated and free from contamination. If countries through which the material is moving believe that procedures haven’t been followed, they can return it.

The study also found that Louth and Monaghan councils have a significant hazardous waste problem owing to criminal gangs and paramilitaries dumping oil residues on roads. The gangs are engaged in “diesel laundering” — removing the dye from oil intended for use in agricultural machinery — and leave the acids they generate in containers on the roadside.

The OEE estimates that Louth and Monaghan spend €700,000 a year dealing with the clean-up.

Last week’s report revealed a range of illegal waste activity in Ireland, including extensive fly-tipping and backyard burning. It estimated that about 287,000 tons of household waste was not presented for collection in 2003, representing 700,000 people’s rubbish.

But many Irish households do not have a waste collection service. In the Cork region, only 69% of homes have their rubbish collected while in Connaught and the mid-west the figure is 63%. In Donegal less than half of houses (45%) have a service.

As a result, some households resort to burning their own waste. While 27 local authorities said backyard burning was a problem, a number said commercial premises were also doing it. They included Wexford, Tipperary and Limerick. Two Dublin councils reported that waste burning was taking place at halting sites.

The OEE also found 15 unauthorised waste-transfer stations in operation. “Of major concern to the OEE is the fact that some of these facilities are owned and operated by local authorities,” it said.

The authority has also discovered a number of facilities that have a licence from a local council but are not complying with conditions. The outlets were not named as they are “the subject of investigation and enforcement action”.

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