Tyre Recovery Association celebrates tenth anniversary with Recycling Day

The Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) is celebrating its tenth anniversary with a Recycling Day, by extending an invitation to the tyre industry, stakeholders and waste industries to participate. The event will be held in partnership with the Retread Manufacturers Association (RMA), and will take place at the Ardencote Manor Hotel, Warwickshire on 19th June 2015.We are encouraging people from across the industry to attend the upcoming Recycling Day,” explains Peter Taylor, TRA Chairman. “It will be a great opportunity to draw inspiration from some of the great tyre recovery initiatives taking place. We will celebrate the achievements of our industry in improving the quality and availability of tyre-derived materials, and explore how we can pioneer even more initiatives in the future.”

On the day, delegates will hear informative case studies on best practice in tyre recycling and reuse. This will include a case study presented by the Managing Director of Apollo Vredestein UK, Stuart Jackson, whose company has created a football training pitch using recycled tyres. The pitch is located outside the Manchester United ground.

The TRA will also cover topics including innovation, the role of Quality Protocols, rubberised asphalt, the Environment Agency’s role in enforcement, as well as presentations from the Tyre Industry Federation, Michelin Tyres Plc, the Fire and Rescue Services and the National Tyre Distributors Association.

The RMA will provide an update about the EU tyre labelling for retreaders. The day will end with an entertaining dinner, complete with a Rod Stewart tribute act, a magician, fun casino and disco.

Among the TRA’s key achievements in the past ten years, the organisation has helped to develop a standard for tyre-derived materials (PAS 107), in conjunction with the Environment Agency, BSI and WRAP. It has since added a new Quality Protocol (QP) option to PAS 107, designed to promote sustainable, cost-effective tyre recycling and stimulate further demand for tyre-derived materials. Additionally, its Responsible Recycler Scheme, now accounts for more than 70% (443,000 tonnes) of the waste tyres arising in the UK annually, it is believed to be the biggest voluntary best practice tyre recovery programme anywhere in the world.

The organisation encourages continuous improvement in the UK tyre industry’s approach to tyre recovery, not least through its rigorous audit process. All TRA members are audited annually and increasingly, the scope of this audit – based approach is being widened to embrace new areas for audited best practice and standards raising.

“We have made significant strides forward in encouraging the adoption of best practice standards in tyre recovery, and I’m proud of everything that we’ve achieved in the past ten years,” says Peter Taylor, TRA Secretary General. “We now see a real sense of professionalism in the industry, boosted by the confidence that comes from seeing just how far we have come over the past decade.

“As the quality of tyre-derived materials improves, demand for these materials will continue to grow,” he concludes. “We’re already seeing tyres reprocessed for use in many different areas, including sports and activity surfacing, rubber products, flooring and cement kilns. I look forward to further industry collaboration and progress on tyre recovery in the next ten years.”

The Recycling Day is a free to attend event, you can either register to attend via the website  or contact us on 01787 226995 for further information.