Labour politicians have joined in the criticism of the possibility of plastic recycling being temporarily dropped in town.

The Conservative administration at Swindon Borough Council wants to increase the town’s recycling rate, which has dropped to 38 per cent – and one of its suggestions is to temporarily stop sending plastics for recycling and to send it with other waste to be made into fuel at the plant in Waterside Park.

But Environment Minister Therese Coffey wrote to the council last week asking the cabinet member responsible, Coun Maureen Penny, to reconsider the proposal.

Labour councillor Jane Milner-Barry said: “We’ve said that sending plastic waste to be burned is a terrible idea from the start – and now even the government is telling the council it’s a bad idea.

“This material is a fossil fuel, and it is much better to recycle it than burn it.”

One of the authority’s concerns about its current recycling operations is that plastic is sent to the Far East and it’s worried about what happens to it there. Because the council collects mixed plastic it can not find a market for it here.

Coun Milner-Barry conceded sending the plastics abroad was a concern but added: “There’s a new waste and recycling strategy due to be put out by central government in 2020.

“We could collect and store the plastic waste for the short-term before then, there are aircraft hangars nearby where plastic could be stored and we could do that tomorrow.”

Labour parliamentary candidate for South Swindon, Sarah Church added: “We need to find a long-term solution. Someone said to me on the doorstep that we’re all used to recycling our plastic. To change that habit to putting it in the bin, and then change it back again will need so much work.

“Burning the plastic is not recycling it – it’s energy recovery and it’s not a long-term solution at all.”

The borough council pointed out that the possibility of asking residents to put plastic in their black bins rather than out for recycling collection was not yet the council’s policy.

Coun Penny, the cabinet member for highways and the environment, said: “No decisions have been made with regard to how we deal with our plastic waste and our wider strategy on how we deal with all our waste will be considered at next month’s cabinet meeting.”

She added: “We await with interest details of the Government’s resources and waste strategy, but the comments that were released in advance over the weekend were encouraging.

“It shows that the Government is aware there is a real issue over the traceability of the UK’s plastic waste.  We fully support the idea of putting the onus on the manufacturers to reduce the use of plastic in its many forms, however, it is likely that such a step change in recycling policy will take many years to fully implement and it is not feasible for us to stockpile tonnes of all the various forms of plastics waste until any changes come into force.

“Our current plastics proposal, which would see our waste turned into a fuel, would only be a temporary measure until there is greater confidence and stability in export markets for recycling plastic waste or technology has advanced to the stage where we can recycle all of it or turn it into a different product.”