Leeds City Council is absolutely confident that the materials collected from Leeds's residents is recycled by reputable contractors and we carry out regular and rigorous checks on shipments of waste material sent for processing.

Obviously we are concerned that this letter has been found in India and have immediately begun investigations to find out whether it could have been collected through the household recycling collection service in Leeds.

Immediately we were informed of the discovery of this letter we contacted all our contractors to investigate this serious issue.

The council has been absolutely open and honest about how Leeds's recycling is dealt with.

Unsorted waste is never sent for processing, either to contractors in this, or any other country. Recyclable material is always sorted into the different types: plastic, paper, card and metal, and is then bundled and sent for processing. The sorted recycling is sometimes sent abroad for processing if no UK markets are available for the particular material at that time. Where this happens we ensure that materials reach their final intended destination. The export of such materials abroad is not a practice unique to Leeds.

For clarity, the rubbish that is collected in residents' black bins is never sent abroad. It is buried in landfill, locally. The Council is currently procuring a treatment facility to divert this waste from landfill and so reduce the overall environmental impact of waste disposal.

The Council is extremely proud of its record on recycling and want to re-assure all residents that we take care to ensure that the material they put out for recycling is handled responsibly and doesn't go to landfill. For the first time in August this year, Leeds recycled more than a third of its household waste.

Coun Steve Smith, Executive Board Member for Environmental Services