Tyres Burn While Government Ministers for ‘Waste and Recycling’ Fiddle

Tyres burn while Government Ministers for ‘Waste and Recycling’ fiddle

Tyre Recovery Association write to Mary Creagh, Minister for Waste and Recycling, to warn that time is running out for UK tyre recovery capability and call for immediate action

Threat to UK’s domestic tyre recovery capability increases as exports of British tyre waste to India continues unabated

 Friday 14 March, the UK’s Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) have written to the British minister responsible for tyre waste policy to call for immediate action to end the T8 exemption and export of end-of-life (ELT) whole tyres.

The DEFRA minister, Mary Creagh MP, is told that the government’s political ambition to reduce waste and create a circular economy will be undermined if the UK’s domestic tyre recovery capabilities have ceased to operate.  Responsible operators are being squeezed at both ends. Firstly, by those operating with T8 licences who undercut tyre collection prices while at the same time losing out on the processing of recovered tyres as current regulation incentives T8 operators to bale whole tyres for export markets. The majority find their way to India where many are burnt in illegal pyrolysis plants.

Stark evidence, from Indian tyre trade bodies and anecdotally gathered by British tyre recovery operators, show the very significant contribution to the environmentally illegal pyrolysis plants in India comes from these UK ELT whole tyre exports. India’s leading trade body the ATMA, who represent 95% of the tyre industry in India, evidence this by their call for an end to waste tyre imports.

Mary Creagh MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Department of Environment, Food, Rural Affairs, has said that reducing waste by moving to a circular economy is a top five priority for her department. But Creagh says decisions will not be made until the Taskforce (set up last summer) provides the Secretary of State (Steve Reid MP) advice on how to develop a Circular Economy Strategy and a series of roadmaps suggesting interventions the government might make on waste reduction on a sector-by-sector basis. No timetable on the Taskforce’s report has been made public. The British government committed to scrapping the universally discredited T8 exemption several years ago, but still this undertaking remains unmet.

In the letter the Secretary General of the TRA, Peter Taylor, warns the minster that,

“Without responsible domestic tyre recycling operators there will be an increase in tyre abandonment and fires across the country.”

He goes on to point out that the status quo is undermining the government’s state environmental and economic goals, telling Ms Creagh,

“The UK is therefore exporting an environmental problem that it is capable of processing domestically.  As well as creating environmental hazards overseas, this is preventing the development of new industries in the circular economy at home.”

Driving the urgency of the industry’s message home, the letter to the UK minister responsible for UK waste and the environment, concludes,

“I restress that we need to see an end to the T8 exemption and we need to see an end to whole tyre exports of end-of-life car tyres (ELTs).  I hope you will push your officials to move on from the rhetoric and procrastination to take action on these specifics. Words do not work if they are not included in the urgently needed regulatory reforms.”

Peter Taylor OBE, Secretary General of the TRA, said:

“We have written to the Minister with responsibility to again highlight the environmental damage this government is overseeing and to stress the likely collapse of the UK’s domestic capability when it comes to tyre recovery.

“Tyres are one of the most prevalent and complex chemical products we use every day. The electric car revolution is making them bigger and heavier. For those of us fighting our industry’s corner it is perverse to await a Taskforce report when the challenges can so immediately be overcome. Tyres burn while the Government fiddles.”

ENDS

For further information, please contact Giles Bancroft on 07876503182 or gbancroft@godolphincomms.co.uk.

NOTES TO EDITORS

• A copy of the Full TRA letter to the DEFRA Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Mary Creagh MP, is copied below and can be found attached.
• The Tyre Recovery Association is calling on the Government to update two pieces of regulation:
• Ending T8 exemptions (announced some years ago, but no action has followed. Scottish authorities ended T8 exemption in 2018)
• Ending exports of whole end-of-life car tyres (ELTs) (as Australia has demonstrated, a simple and effective means of addressing environmental concerns and ensuring domestic capability)”
• Steve Reid, DEFRA Secretary of State, told the Labour Party conference in September 2024, that the government will “end the throwaway society by creating new jobs reusing and recycling materials as we work towards a circular economy that protects nature and our precious climate.”
• The TRA letter to DEFRA Minister for Waste and Recycling –

 

 

11 March 2024

 

Dear Mrs Creagh

 

Thank you for replying to my November letter to the Secretary of State (your ref: PO2024/20726/SH). The Tyre Recovery Association welcome the assurance you gave on behalf of the government that reducing waste by moving to a circular economy is a top five priority for the department responsible for the environment. Taskforces and studies are always welcome and there any many who relish the opportunity to participate in such noble and well-intentioned forums to help define future policy.

 

It is therefore with some reluctance that I prick that balloon of optimism. However, with increasing urgency, I am required to reiterate the pressing concerns of TRA members. Of particular concern is the ability to achieve the political ambition of reducing waste and creating a circular economy if the UK’s domestic tyre recovery capabilities have ceased operating. There is no indication of a timeline for the Taskforce of experts to report. What the TRA are seeing (and have been raising with DEFRA for several years) is that responsible UK operators face immediate challenges and each passing quarter brings them closer to the moment they will cease to operate.

 

Everyone agrees the T8 exemption is a failure. Commitment to ending it has existed for several years (Scotland ended it 7 years ago now). DEFRA’s lack of political will to see this through is baffling. There is a no reason to prevaricate. Without responsible domestic tyre recycling operators there will be an increase in tyre abandonment and fires across the country.  Rather than supporting economic growth, delivering green jobs, promoting efficient and productive use of resources, minimising negative environmental impacts and accelerating to net zero, the status quo damages the environment as we export our responsibilities to countries like India.

 

To remind you of the headline figures on this important and under recognised issue. The UK produces almost 700,000 tonnes of end-of-live tyres (ELTs) annually in the UK. 2024 figures show more than 350,000 tonnes of UK end-of-life tyre are exported per annum.

 

There is currently unused capacity in UK ELT recycling of over 150,000 tonnes per year, primarily because they are unable to secure sufficient feedstock for plants.  This because of the very large volumes being exported to India.  The UK is therefore exporting an environmental problem that it is capable of processing domestically.  As well as creating environmental hazards overseas, this is preventing the development of new industries in the circular economy at home.

 

Stark evidence, from Indian tyre trade bodies and anecdotally gathered by British tyre recovery operators, showing the very significant contribution to the environmentally illegal pyrolysis plants in India comes from UK ELT whole tyre exports. India’s leading trade body the ATMA, who represent 95% of the tyre industry in India, evidence this by their call for an end to waste tyre imports.

 

No doubt you will have reviewed the correspondence undertaken by your predecessors with the TRA. On behalf of our members, I restress that we need to see an end to the T8 exemption and we need to see an end to whole tyre exports of end-of-life car tyres (ELTs).  I hope you will push your officials to move on from the rhetoric and procrastination (which bears an uncanny resemblance to that of the last Conservative government’s) to take action on these specifics. Words do not work if they are not included in the urgently needed regulatory reforms.

 

I look forward to your reply and would welcome the opportunity to provide more detail to you in a personal briefing, ahead of media interest in the situation mounting.

 

Yours sincerely

 Peter Taylor OBE

Secretary General TRA