TRA in dialogue with Environment Agency over industry specific Fire Prevention Plans

The Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) is in ongoing dialogue with the Environment Agency (EA) over a template designed to help its members gain approval from the EA for a more site-specific approach to fire prevention at members’ sites.

The aim of the talks is to develop a waste stream-specific approach which recognises current operational constraints in the business of tyre recycling. The TRA felt it was essential to find more workable alternatives to proposals originally tabled by the EA last year.

Site specific Fire Prevention Plans would enable TRA operators to work within a framework more suited to their specific circumstances, as stack heights and separation distances proposed for tyres are much lower than for other more easily combustible wastes such as plastics, wood, textiles and paper.

The most recent Fire Prevention Plans were introduced by the EA in 2016 but the TRA felt it was unfairly treated as its member companies, who are regularly audited under its Responsible Recycler Scheme, would lose business to illegal and rogue operators who routinely escape enforcement. The industry specific proposals would allow TRA operators to continue operating within a safe environment.

TRA Secretary General, Peter Taylor OBE, said: “It is essential we protect Britain’s waste stream recovery infrastructure. We hope this renewed dialogue with the Environment Agency will achieve this.”

The association has been lobbying the EA for four years and have worked closely with the agency and it believes the partnership approach is the most suitable way forward.