Jakarta: Indonesia's foreign ministry has delivered a blunt message to the Australian companies shipping contaminated waste offshore: stop sending your rubbish overseas and deal with the problem at home.

In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on Thursday, the acting spokesman for Indonesia's foreign ministry, Teuku Faizasyah, said the companies that had shipped so-called "toxic" waste to his country simply had to take it back.

"Those who sent the containers must re-export it back to the country of origin," he said.

A container of Australian plastic waste impounded at the port of Batam, Indonesia. Credit:Amilia Rosa

"The items we found in the containers are considered toxic and did not necessarily correlate with the items listed [in the shipping papers]."