A group of leading environmental scientists said yesterday that official policies to increase recycling were counter-productive and did more harm than good.

In a press conference at the Royal Institution in London, professor Roland Clift, a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, said: "The idea that recycling is a solution to everything is not valid. Recycling glass has marginal benefit, and if you have to transport it large distances, there is no point. Recycling paper is marginal."