IT cannot but harm the cause of recycling with the news that almost 70 per cent of refuse gathered in by Hampshire’s councils is now being shipped 13,000 miles to China.

As this paper reveals today, the closure of paper mills closer to home has seen the need for recycling company Viola to fulfil its contract to local authorities by shipping the recycled waste to the other side of the world.

True, the journey is not costing the Hampshire taxpayer any more than if the process was taking place closer to home. A contract is after all a contract.

We can accept that the materials are being carried on ships that would be returning to the Far East anyway.

Yet there is something not quite right about using so much carbon fuel to carry out what is after all an exercise is cutting back on carbon emissions in a bid to save the planet.

The claim is also that there are mills closer to home that could take up the slack, but are not being utilised.

If true, then this is a strange case indeed.

Hopefully this will be temporary arrangements and recycling will take place under conditions that remain faithful to the ideals of such schemes and not just its costings.