Old fridges to be sent abroad

Britain is to send thousands of old fridges to Germany to be demolished in a drastic attempt to meet tough new European regulations.

Within the next three weeks, broken-down fridges and freezers from across south-east England will be transported to Munich and Dusseldorf. Under a Brussels directive they have to be stripped of environmentally harmful chemicals before they can be junked.

"Fridge mountains" have built up across the country because Britain does not yet have recycling plants. As a result, local officials have earmarked millions of pounds of taxpayers' money to ship them abroad rather than create bigger stockpiles.

The move will cause further embarrassment for Environment Minister Michael Meacher, who has already faced questions over why Britain was caught unawares by the rules.

There is also concern the French are destroying old fridges without extracting the foam which contains ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbon gases. Brussels is investigating whether France has complied with the regulation that came into effect on 1 January to protect the earth's ozone shield.

The Tories today described the move to ship fridges abroad as "ludicrous". Shadow environment secretary Peter Ainsworth said: "It doesn't exactly help the environment and will present the country with a serious financial headache." The cost is likely to reach £10million this year.