Kent accounted for more than half the 156 recorded cases of illegal tyre disposal in the whole of southern England in the year to March 2001, the latest for which figures are available.
Of these, 29 cases involved fires which threatened public health and the environment with foul black smoke.
The agency warned that it will liaise with the courts to try to get harsher penalties imposed. The maximum fine for fly tipping is 20,000 fine or a jail term.
Regulators also chose Kent for their blitz after a survey sent to 122 tyre retailers and 90 metal recycling sites found that only half were following correct procedures.
One in three businesses using tyre disposal contractors did not check whether the collector used was legitimate.
The agency pointed out that phased European Union bans on tyre disposal begin to hit in 12 months' time, yet around 80 per cent of vehicle dismantlers, garage services, tyre distributors and retreaders do not know the law is about to change.
It said that this ignorance was major setback to its attempts to curb fly tipping, which it said cost taxpayers 2.3 million in clean-up bills.
Victoria Titchener, the agency's south region tyre campaign co-ordinator, said: “It's not just the person who dumps these tyres who's to blame – it is also the fitter happy to hand over his waste tyres to a collector without checking he is legitimate.”
Each year the UK produces around 50 million waste tyres, of which 63 per cent are recovered.
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