Britain could face a repeat of the "fridge mountain fiasco" with new rules on recycling electrical items, Hampshire and Isle of Wight MEP, Roy Perry, has warned.

A new EU directive means that all electical equipment with a battery or cable will have to be disposed of in environmentally-friendly ways by 2005.

This includes everything from personal computers, mobile phones and televisions to kitchen appliances and children's toys.

Speaking after a vote on the Electroncic Waste Directive in the European Parliament last Wednesday (April 10th), Mr Perry said: "Unless waste facilities are in place to process this equipment and markets developed for the recycled material produced, we will have a repeat of the fridge fiasco - thousands of unwanted electrical goods piling up with no means of disposal."

Mr Perry accused the Government of mishandling EU regulations which came into force last January preventing fridges being crushed without safe disposal of insulating foam containing ozone-depleting CFCs. Britain has no machinery to do this and as thousands of fridges are replaced each week this led to stockpiling and a waste disposal crisis.

Mr Perry, Conservative spokesman in the European Parliament, said: "Hard-pressed council tax payers cannot be expected to foot another astronomical bill for collecting and storing electrical items until disposal procedures are in place.

"The Government and industry will have three years to put systems in place. It must not leave everything until the last minute."

But Ian Fielding, Hampshire County Council's waste manager, said a repeat of the fridge mountain fiasco was unlikely.

He said the "directive" on electrical waste still had to be translated into UK law, giving time to prepare. Whereas EU "regulations" on fridges had come into immediate effect.

Another difference was the new rules on electrical items will place the primary responsibility with producers - rather than consumers - to recycle goods.

He said: "It is not appropriate to make direct comparisions with the fridge problem because that was a problem of short-notice and it was not primarily producer responsibility based legislation."

He added: "As a local authority we don't evisage the same problems as we are facing over fridges. I really don't know how it is going to impact on households, if at all."