UK tackles illegal tyre exports to India

British regulators are introducing enhanced checks on the export of tyres after media reports that millions were being incinerated in India instead of being recycled.

The Environment Agency (EA) concedes it is ‘highly likely’ that a proportion of exported tyres are being diverted to illegal furnaces. It is the first time it has acknowledged the scale of the problem.

BBC revelations

The EA reviewed the sector after revelations by the BBC in March that 70% of tyres exported to India from the UK and the rest of the world ended up in makeshift industrial plants blighted by explosions, fires and environmental hazards.

‘We have not been able to verify that exported waste pneumatic tyres are arriving at their intended destination sites in India,’ the EA says, adding it has an obligation to prohibit exports of waste if there is a risk that the waste will not be managed in an environmentally responsible way.

Enhanced checks from 1 October will require those exporting tyres to satisfy the EA that waste is being recovered properly.

Lukewarm reaction

The Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) and campaigners gave a lukewarm reaction, wanting the EA to go further, fearing some loopholes remained to be exploited by criminals. The TRA is ‘very disappointed’ the EA has not adopted the Australian example of banning exports of whole tyres.

Recyclers believe tyres should be exported only after shredding, making it more expensive and difficult to sell them illicitly in India

The founder of the pressure group Fighting Dirty, Georgia Elliott-Smith, said the plan sounded promising but appeared to be a system of self-certification paperwork with the threat of inspections ‘not much different from today’s flawed protocol’.