Ballymena council is sending about 800 tons a week by lorry and ferry to a privately owned landfill site at Lendelfoot in Ayrshire, just across the Irish Sea.

I would suggest to Ballymena that they should take an interest in where the rubbish is actually being dumped

Adam Ingram MSP

Councils are running out of room in local landfill, with some having just six months capacity left.

BBC Northern Ireland environment correspondent Mike McKimm said: "Northern Ireland has failed to grasp the waste management challenge seriously over the last two decades and has few if any recycling facilities.

'Over a hedge'

"Initially environmentalists thought it was just 800 tons of domestic rubbish, but it turns out that a further 18,000 tons of animal remains are also being shipped to Scotland each year from Northern Ireland's food processing factories."

Adam Ingram, an MSP for South Scotland, likened it to dumping rubbish over a hedge into someone else's garden.

"The fact that people can get rid of their own waste problem by dumping it in someone else's lap - I would suggest to Ballymena that they should take an interest in where the rubbish is actually being dumped," he said.

A new advertisement has been released

Mike McKimm said: "But he and the local people of Lendelfoot, where it all ends up, have a hard task ahead.

"No one is breaking the law. The site being used is well-managed and has been passed for the purpose by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. So the rubbish could continue to arrive in Ayrshire for some time."

Ballymena council has said it is running out of space to dump its rubbish at home.

Local television

SDLP councillor PJ McAvoy said: "We are reaching a crisis point for landfill sites right across the north and something seriously needs to be done very quickly."

Northern Ireland Environment Minister Dermot Nesbitt said he was not happy that rubbish was being dumped in Scotland.

Adam Ingram: Urging minister

"We have to be conscious that we are the users of Northern Ireland - we cause the waste and we have to be very conscious of how we dispose of it.

Mike McKimm added: "Ironically, in the middle of all this the Department of Environment in Northern Ireland started an advertising campaign on local television.

"The advert encourages people to stop putting their waste in local landfill. It seems that some have taken it quite literally."