However, less than a third of this material can currently be captured due to the nature of reprocessing in this country, said the report's authors, consultancy Juniper.
And, it identified concreted reinforcement as a “potentially interesting and significant outlet” for tyre-derived steel.
However, authors Dr Egan Archer and Nadia Boyarkina said that “significantly less” than 33,000 tonnes a year of steel was currently reprocessed in the UK as it was not normally removed from tyres before they were used in landfill engineering or cement kilns.
The cost of separating the material and problems with contamination often meant there was currently little incentive to capture it, they added.
Writing in the report, they said: “There is currently little appetite for this type of scrap in the reprocessing sector. Research indicates that there is only one steel reprocessing company in the UK that utilises a small quantity of tyre-derived steel. This company reported tat the quality of the steel they currently receive is poor and they are further scaling back its usage with the intention of stopping altogether.”
Quality
The Waste and Resources Action Programme, which commissioned the study, urged recyclers to do more to capture this valuable waste stream. It was estimated that prices for tyre-derived steel could range from £5 to £200 a tonne, depending on quality.
Juniper said that processes such as microwaving and pyrolysis could help to recover good quality steel which would be easier to market.
Steve Waite, project manager for tyres at WRAP, said “With many thousands of tonnes of steel currently available for recovery in the UK, the opportunities in this market are considerable. We are keen to highlight to industry the barriers and potential opportunities to develop processes and guidance that will aloe tyre reprocessor to ensure that they are producing the highest possible tyre-derived steel.”
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