UK Firm Fined for Illegal Export of Waste Tyres

Cheshire based company BTR Limited has been ordered to pay £10,000 in fines and costs for its involvement in the illegal export of waste tyres to Vietnam. The case, taken by the Environment Agency, is the first ever taken under new regulations controlling the import and export of waste to the UK.

On July 23, 2008 an Agency officer visited a site in Warmley, Bristol where waste tyres were being stored. The tyres were baled up and being loaded onto a 40-foot shipping container bound for Southampton docks. Checks revealed the container was owned by a Malaysian shipping company and that the tyres were destined for export to China via Vietnam. The company storing the tyres said it was aware of the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations 2007, but claimed the tyre bales were not waste because they were going to be used in the construction of motorway embankments.

However, under the 2007 Regulations the export of tyres to Vietnam is prohibited unless they are intended for re-use as a tyre on a vehicle. Any other use, including the export of tyre bales for motorway embankments, was illegal as baled tyres were not a recognised product and are therefore classified as waste.

Further checks by the Agency revealed that between May and August 2008 a total of 40 containers of tyres were exported to Vietnam from the UK in five separate shipments. Under the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations 2007, only ‘green’ (non hazardous) wastes can be exported to non-OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries such as Vietnam. In March 2007 Vietnam’s Environment Protection Agency said it no longer wanted to receive waste tyres and removed tyres from the list of green waste it was prepared to accept.

It is estimated the illegal export cost legitimate tyre recyclers in the Bristol, Somerset and Gloucestershire area around £85,000 in lost business as they would have received between one and two pounds for processing each waste tyre. Inquiries revealed that BTR played a pivotal role in organising the shipments by paying container related fees and introducing tyre baling companies to the company responsible for the illegal exports.

‘This case is important because it shows how, under the latest Transfrontier Shipment Regulations, anyone involved in the illegal importation and export of waste can now face enforcement action including those producing, brokering, loading and transporting waste to and from UK ports,’ said Naomi Daniel for the Environment Agency.

The case was heard on October 5, BTR Limited of Canalside Industrial Estate, Oil Sites Road, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire was fined a total of £5,000 and ordered to pay £5,000 costs by Southampton Crown Court after pleading guilty to being involved in the transport of waste tyres to Vietnam, an offence under the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulation 2007. Cases against the supplier of the tyres and the exporter of the tyres are still pending.