The Danish government has postponed a plan to accept a shipment of Australian toxic waste for disposal, following pressure from the its centre-left opposition.
Environment Minister Karen Ellemann on Thursday said the decision was made to allay public fears.
Earlier the opposition said it would introduce an emergency bill aiming to block the first waste shipment, due to leave from Australia on Saturday.
"Due to concerns both in public opinion and on the political stage, I deemed it was not appropriate for the first (waste-filled) ship to leave right now," Ellemann said in a statement.
She stressed that the delivery was being postponed, not cancelled.
The ship was scheduled to arrive in Denmark at the beginning of January.
Ellemann added she would discuss the issue with her Australian counterpart Tony Burke and the Australian explosives manufacturer responsible for the toxic chemicals, Orica.
Danish environmental authorities accepted in June a request to dispose of Orica's 6,100 tonnes of toxic chemicals, stockpiled for decades in Sydney.
There were to be taken to a treatment facility in Nyborg in central Denmark.
Australia has no facility to destroy the Hexachlorobenzene (HCB) chemicals, a by-product of solvents made by the company between 1964 and 1991.
In June, Ellemann said her country had to accept the waste because of treaty obligations.
Danish company Kommunekemi won a lucrative contract to ship and treat the waste.
Denmark "has the obligation to help other countries when they are confronted with an unsolvable problem," she said at the time.
Danish authorities required the waste to be transported in double-hulled ships, with each container equipped with a GPS to allow its movements to be tracked.
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