Biffa Waste Services has been forced to pay almost £600,000 for exporting banned waste to China.
The company, one of the largest waste management firms in the UK, was found guilty in the summer of sending contaminated household waste, described as waste paper, to China between May and June 2015.
During an Environment Agency investigation, officers prevented seven 25-tonne containers at Felixstowe port from onward export.
The contents included soiled nappies, food packaging, clothing, bags of faeces and plastic bottles.
Exports of unsorted household recycling waste from the UK to China are banned.
At a hearing in Wood Green Crown Court last month, details of four further charges against Biffa illegally exporting 42 containers of waste from households and destined for India and Indonesia were heard.
The jury did not accept Biffa’s version of events that consignments leaving its depot in Edmonton four years ago complied with the law because they comprised of waste paper.
The court fined Biffa £350,000 and ordered that it pay costs of £240,000 and a further £9,912 under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
The EA has introduced a number of additional measures to tackle illegal exports including working closely with HMRC reviewing inconsistencies between customs information and packaging data, and creating an investigations team to target serious offenders.
