A Preston waste company and its director have been prosecuted after repeatedly hiding exporting contaminated waste.
3R Technology UK Ltd, based at Longbridge Road, and was caught smuggling electrical waste and other rubbish to Malaysia in what it claimed was clean plastic waste.
Despite being caught doing this in 2022, the company continued to offend and contaminated waste was again intercepted in 2024 and 2025.
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The company and its director Yulin Wang, of Haighton Drive, were investigated by the Environment Agency and charged with 14 offences related to shipments of contaminated plastic waste between April 2022 and February 2025, and two to breaching prohibition notices served in August 2024.
At Preston Magistrates’ Court, guilty pleas were entered to all charges and the company was fined £80,000, ordered to pay costs of £45,000 and a victim surcharge of £2,000. Wang, 56, sentenced to 120 hours of unpaid work in the community, and ordered to pay costs of £15,000 and a victim surcharge of £114.
The international regime designed to regulate the movement of waste across borders means exporters must ensure the waste is properly classified, accurately described and only exported with the proper notification and consent.
A 2022 spot check at Felixstowe led to the start of an investigation, with inspections confirming that all containers were significantly contaminated despite paperwork describing the waste as clean plastic.
In 2024, despite the ongoing investigation, an intercepted container at Liverpool was found to have electrical waste tucked to the back of the container in efforts to conceal it, with the clean waste at the front.
Two prohibition notices were issued in August 2024, requiring the company to stop shipping contaminated plastic without compliance with the regulations.
Despite this, two further containers were exported and were found to contain heavily contaminated plastic waste.
Emma Viner, Enforcement and Investigations Manager at the Environment Agency, 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.
“Our officers work tirelessly to tackle waste criminals, and the outcome of this prosecution sends a message to others that we will not tolerate those breaching regulations.
“We are coming down hard on criminals across the whole waste sector and they can expect to have action taken against them.”
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