MORE than 10,000 tonnes of Merseyside’s recycling was rejected by a £5m sorting machine over the course of a year.

Waste bosses said it is rubbish that is sent for recycling in error.

But environmentalists claim the technology is flawed – the machine being unable to tell the difference between a flattened tin can and a piece of cardboard.

They say the rejected waste is sent to landfill, meaning it was needlessly transported to the sorting depot in Bidston, Wirral, and households having wasted time sorting it.

According to figures from Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority (MWDA), the Bidston “Materials Recovery Facility” received 68,328 tonnes of recycling waste between November, 2008, and November, 2009.

But 10,530 tonnes were rejected – meaning more than one tonne in every seven is sent on to landfill.

The waste comes from Liverpool, Knowsley, Wirral and Halton. St Helens and Sefton have different recycling regimes and do not send waste to Bidston.

The plant was built in 2006 as part of an £11.25m upgrade.

Merseyside as a whole currently recycles a third of its rubbish. But it is going to need to recycle more to avoid punishing penalties for burying waste in landfill sites.