Councils may refuse to recycle plastic and raise taxes due to a Chinese ban on imported recycled waste, experts have warned.

Officials last night said decades of recycling progress in the UK was under threat as a result of the decision, which could see millions of tonnes of harmful plastic waste heading to landfill.

Britain currently sends around two-thirds of its used plastic to China.

But in a drive towards self-sufficiency, presented as a campaign against yang laji, or foreign garbage, the country will no longer accept recycled plastics from March next year.

The Chinese Government has also announced increased quality standards for other imported waste such as cardboard, which together promise to throw councils’ recycling operations into chaos.

Local government representatives have said the move will have a “major impact” on finances which in turn are likely to affect rates and bin collections services.

Currently local authorities make money by recycling, which offsets the cost of their operations.

Either they sort the reusable material themselves and sell it on to merchants, or, if not sorted, they can pay recycling contractors to take the waste for a smaller fee than traditional landfill or incinerator owners will charge.

The closure of the world’s biggest recycling market means approximately 540,000 tonnes of plastic waste a year may now have nowhere to go.