Three people face criminal charges for trading more than 3,000 tonnes of medical waste, in eastern China's Jiangsu Province, some of which was manufactured into toys and tableware.

Nanjing police said earlier this week that the suspects, one arrested and two on bail, were caught following a police raid that confiscated 13.5 tonnes of medical waste, including IV tubes, syringes, needles and glass bottles for antibiotics, at a waste collection center late August.

Medical waste can pollute the environment and spread diseases, and Chinese law requires medical waste to be disposed of in accordance with regulations, the police said.

Police found that the legal representative of the center, registered as an environmental technology company, purchased more than 3,000 tonnes of medical waste from hospitals in Nanjing at a cost of 800 yuan (115 U.S. dollars) to 1,000 yuan per hospital, each month since 2012.

The materials were then processed at the center. Plastic waste was turned into plastic particles and sold to factories. Some of the particles were used to make counterfeit branded toys and tableware, the police said.