Tyre recovery sector unites to tackle landfill ban

The Tyre Recovery Association will be an independent body but will retain an affiliation to TIC and the European Tyre Recycling Association (ETRA).

The new association has been created by members of the Tyre Industry Council's Responsible Recycler Scheme. The Scheme currently has 21 members and was created to introduce standards for the post-consumer tyre industry.

Peter Taylor, secretary of the TIC, told letsrecycle.com that one of the key goals of the association will be to promote the interests of its members at Parliament, “particularly relating to issues of fly tipping, site licensing and really the Environment Agency processes, within its own regulatory role,” he said.

Members will comprise tyre collectors, reprocessors, recyclers and companies burning tyres for energy. These include companies Charles Lawrence which turns old tyres into sports surfaces and Sapphire, a subsidiary of Lafarge cement, which uses tyres as a fuel in its cement kilns.

“When we first started the recycler scheme we had separate groups for reprocessors and collectors that didn't cross over,” Mr Taylor said. “But they found most of the issues were common to both sets and they had far more in common than any differences they have so they formed one group.”

The Tyre Recovery Association will also take on a data collection and industry monitoring roles to check progress on meeting targets. “One of the benefits of a body like this is it can monitor its own progress, probably more effectively than government can,” Mr Taylor said.

Mr Taylor explained that the trade association will help form a link between tyre retailers and the reprocessors that will help promote producer responsibility as the ban on tyres going to landfill comes into full effect in July 2006.

In 2003, the UK recovered an estimated 83% of all tyres placed on the market and Mr Taylor said the rate could rise to above 90% this year. “There is in fact a little bit of a shortage of tyres to reprocess,” Mr Taylor said. “These days, there is absolutely no reason for tyre mountains or fly tipping.”