"It is unthinkable that we can take this waste in view of the way the situation has developed and the significant opposition, as much political as popular," said Karen Ellemann in a statement.

She said she had informed her Australian counterpart Tony Burke who while regretting the decision had expressed his understanding.

The Danish government earlier this month postponed the first of 44 containers of the highly toxic hexachlorobenzene (HCB) that had been due to be processed at a facility in Nyborg, in central Denmark.

Australia approved the shipment in August, saying it lacked an adequate treatment facility to destroy the chemical waste, a by-product of solvents made between 1964 and 1991.

An Australian explosives company Orica has been storing the waste in Sydney for decades as it seeks a disposal solution.

The 6,100-tonne shipment of toxic chemicals had been approved by both the Australian and Danish governments under the Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste.

Greenpeace has protested against the shipment. Environmentalists argue that Australia should deal with the waste at home, and that shipping highly dangerous chemicals around the world poses an unacceptable risk.

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