THE TRA AUDIT – RAISING THE BAR AGAIN

– New requirements for data validation
– Enhanced permit compliance verification
– End distinction waste tracking

Almost two decades ago the TRA launched a unique audit initiative to rate its members ‘better than the rest’. Dubbed the Responsible Recycler Scheme, this audit programme aimed to provide the wider tyre industry, its regulators and the wider public with an assurance that TRA member companies complied with, and where appropriate, exceeded regulatory and best practice norms. Over the ensuing years, member audit scores have achieved very high levels of compliance leading the association to raise the bar even further particularly in areas of ‘best practice’. These new standards will be phased-in during the course of 2020 and will encompass new requirements for data validation, permit compliance and end-destination waste tracking.

‘It is time to upscale’, commented TRA Secretary General, Peter Taylor. ‘We have earned respect for what we do but we owe it to ourselves and to the wider tyre industry to raise our game whenever and wherever we can. We believe deeply in the value of earned responsibility and in self-regulation and an ever robust and fit for purpose Responsible Recycler Scheme is the banner we stand behind throughout the recovery cycle’.

How the tyre market works
End of life tyres are collected from retailers, users and others through an independent network of collectors who charge for this service. These tyres are then sorted, selected and their fates defined. Truck tyres are prized for finer size reduction and crumbing, and car tyres are more likely to be shredded for other purposes in particular to use as a co-fuel in cement and other types of kiln. Many are also exported for this purpose where permitted.