The TRA has highlighted for many years that the market is “over-reliant” on exports, estimating that 75% of end-of-life tyres are exported to the Indian sub-continent via the Red Sea.
Now, the association has warned that as ships are diverted via the Cape of Good Hope, container rates for the shipment of used tyres have increased from an average £850 to £2,000.
The TRA explained that those reliant on exports have now seen the prices of baled tyres they sell for export to the Indian sub-continent fall dramatically as overseas importers refuse to pay the additional surcharges shippers need to cover their increased transport costs.
“The last time prices collapsed for these operators there was a significant increase in fly tipping, abandonment and major tyre fires. Such fires can take days to extinguish, involving dozens of firefighters. The noxious smoke can cause travel chaos to road and rail, as well as result in a dangerous reduction in air quality impacting local schools and communities,” the association warned.
T8 exemptions
The TRA has been lobbying the government for many years to withdraw the T8 waste exemption. This allows sites to store or treat 60 tonnes of truck tyres or 40 tonnes of any other tyres over any 7-day period without a permit.
The association said on Friday (12 January) that as “unscrupulous end-of-life tyre operators” come under pressure rom increased shipping costs, “illegal stockpiling will rise, as will fly tipping and illegal abandonment, which includes burning. A cycle of behaviour that will once again damage Britain’s environment looks inevitable”.
‘Calamity’
Peter Taylor OBE, secretary general of the TRA, said: “The crisis in the Red Sea is not just a threat to British people’s ability to buy their clothes from Next, it presents a looming environmental calamity for communities near sites across the country.
“The TRA has been warning the government that current regulations are inadequate and allow non-compliant waste tyre operators to continue abusing the rules. As Houthi pirates create a strangle hold on shipping routes the full picture of the UK’s end- life-tyre market and its over reliance on Indian sub-continent importers comes into sharp relief.
“Reputational damage to the industry from tyre fires, virtually all of which are at non-permitted sites, causes issue for mainstream permitted operators and the industry at large.
“We have the capacity and capability in the UK to responsibly deal with end-of-life tyres but urgently need the UK’s environmental regulations to catch up.”
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