3R Technology UK and its director Yulin Wang appeared before Preston Magistrates’ Court on 24 March 2026, where both pleaded guilty to a total of 16 offences.
The company was fined £80,000 and ordered to pay £45,000 in costs alongside a £2,000 victim surcharge.
Wang received a community order of 120 hours’ unpaid work, and was ordered to pay £15,000 in costs and a £114 victim surcharge.
The court heard that the company had exported waste falsely described as clean plastic, when in fact it was contaminated with electrical waste such as wiring, circuit boards and mixed materials.
As a result, the shipments required prior notification and consent under waste shipment regulations, which had not been obtained.
Emma Viner, Enforcement and Investigations Manager at the Environment Agency (EA), said: “Wang and his company had a complete disregard for the legislation in place to protect the environment and communities, deliberately flouting the law and ignoring notices to cease activity.”
Illegal plastic waste exported between 2022 and 2025
The case followed a lengthy investigation by the EA into a series of illegal waste exports between April 2022 and February 2025.
Prosecutors told the court that 14 of the offences related to shipments of contaminated plastic waste during that period, while two further offences concerned breaches of prohibition notices issued in August 2024.
The shipments included nine containers exported in April 2022, three more in May and July 2024, and a further two in February 2025.
The investigation began after a 2022 spot check at Felixstowe uncovered a container that was significantly contaminated despite being labelled as clean plastic. Subsequent inspections confirmed that all containers linked to the company contained similar levels of contamination.
In 2024, while the investigation was ongoing, another container intercepted at Liverpool revealed attempts to conceal electrical waste at the rear, with cleaner material placed at the front.
Following these findings, the EA served two prohibition notices on the company in August 2024, requiring it to cease exporting contaminated plastic waste unless it complied fully with regulations.
However, the court heard that two further containers were exported after the notices were issued, both of which were found to contain heavily contaminated waste.
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