HUNDREDS of tonnes of household waste which should have been recycled was instead incinerated after it was rejected for being "contaminated".

The waste is believed to have been turned away by recycling contractors who would normally sort the cardboard, plastics, bottles, tin and other items collected by Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

It is believed 250 tonnes of household recycling waste was destroyed.

The council has refused to confirm the figure, quoted to The Sentinel by a source, and refused to say why the waste was not recycled.

However, The Sentinel understands that the contractor would not accept cardboard mixed with other recyclables such as glass and tin.

Until last month, Stoke-on-Trent residents were asked to put cardboard into brown bins, alongside uneaten food and garden waste, while plastic bottles, tin cans and glass are left in blue bins.

But from January 2, residents were told to dump paper and card in the blue bins as dyes in items such as cereal packets reduces the quality of compost.

In a letter to The Sentinel, one refuse worker, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: "The co-mingled recyclables are being rejected by Baxters, the company with the recycling contract.

"This is due to the fact that the cardboard is mixed with the other recyclables and so classed as contaminated. The cardboard is also rejected for being too wet.

"The whole blue bin recyclables are now being sent back to Stoke-on-Trent by articulated lorry at a cost of £800 per load charged to the city council.

"It is taken to the incinerator to be dumped with general waste, however because of the high concentration of glass and metal in the recyclables it will not burn so has to be mixed with domestic waste first."

A spokesman for Baxters refused to be drawn on why some waste would be rejected, or even if the company had a contract with Stoke-on-Trent.

Councillor Dave Conway, leader of the City Independents Group, said: "I heard five wagons had been turned away and classed as contaminated. If this sort of thing carries on it is going to hit the recycling rates, and if you don't meet the recycling targets the council can be fined hundreds of thousands of pounds."

Recycling expert Chris Butters, of Newcastle Waste Reduction and Recycling Ltd, said: "It is one hell of an amount to be turned away.

"A likely reason for it being turned away is if different recyclables are mixed together."

Carol Gibbs, interim assistant director of citywide services at the council, said: "There was a problem sending some material to be recycled one day earlier this week. As a short term measure, these loads were sent to the energy-from-waste plant [incinerator] while discussion with the contractor took place."