Plastics slump is a warning, say tyre recyclers

Tyre recyclers in the UK say their industry faces a similar collapse as the plastics sector.

The Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) points out that market pressures have led to a spate of UK plastic recycling plants closing down. Industry insiders complain of the lack of a level playing field – an issue that is also said to be undermining the UK’s tyre processing capacity.

The UK currently exports an estimated 1 000 tonnes of whole end-of-life tyres (ELTs) every day, much of which ends up in uncontrolled and often illegal processing abroad.

Australian lead

The TRA continues to call for urgent government action to reform legislation. This includes implementing a ‘shred only ‘policy for ELT exports, as practised in Australia.

Following publication of an inquiry into waste tyre exports by the UK regulator, the Environment Agency (EA), the TRA published ‘The Road to Reform’, a five-step plan it says would implement the inquiry’s findings. It adds it is waiting to meet the EA to provide further assistance.

Sleepwalking

The TRA says the technology is available to create a digital chain of custody that would ensure tyre waste is accounted for.
Peter Taylor, secretary general of the TRA, says: ‘The recent news of major plastics recycling plants closing is a canary in the coal mine for the wider UK recycling industry. We are sleepwalking into a crisis where UK jobs and domestic capacity are sacrificed for the sake of cheap exports of our environmental problems.’