The British government has launched a probe into reports several British companies have been involved in dumping hazardous waste in Brazilian ports, reports said Saturday.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn told The Times newspaper he had ordered the investigation after reports that shipping containers carrying tonnes of syringes, condoms, bags of blood and other waste had turned up in Brazil.

Benn said he could consider tightening rules on transporting waste.

"If, having looked into this particular case, there are lessons that need to be learnt about enforcement, then we will do that," he said.

Some 90 shipping containers have been discovered on three docks in Brazil containing hazardous material in recent months, with local inspectors finding waste electronic equipment as well as medical byproducts, newspapers here said.

The waste has been linked to two British companies, and sent from Felixstowe in eastern England to docks at Brazil's Santos, near Sao Paulo, and two other ports in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, the Independent said.

The companies in Brazil that received the waste claimed to have been expecting recyclable plastic, The Times said.

Plastics, paper and other goods are shipped between countries around the world for recycling including for scrap metal.

The UN-administered Basel Convention, which came into force in 1992, bans shipments of toxic waste from industrialised countries.