TRA warns Red Sea crisis could threaten UK environment with increase in illegal waste tyre storage and fly tipping
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75% of the waste tyres generated in the market are affected, as the shipping route is used to send containers to the Indian subcontinent
The Tyre Recovery Association has warned of a potential increase in damage to the environment around the UK as a result of disruption to a popular shipping route. The Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea will likely mean an increase in distance and time for vessels navigating the popular route between Europe and Asia, meaning costs will inevitably increase. The TRA says 75 per cent of the UK’s waste tyres are exported to the Indian subcontinent where there is evidence of pollutive dumping of baled waste tyres, a situation the TRA has described as “environmental colonialism”. Commenting on the emerging situation, the association is scathing about the UK government’s “apathy” about tackling the market’s waste tyres sustainably without depending on exports. With shipping costs are more than doubling, the TRA cites precedence that suggests rogue operators are likely to resort increasingly to illegal storage or fly tipping within the UK, as exporters are unwilling to cover the increased costs for collectors.
Industry insiders are pointing to the Red Sea shipping crisis as exposing the lethargy of UK’s waste tyres policy making. Regarding the popular disposal method of exporting waste tyres to less regulated markets, the TRA says that government has been presented with evidence of the misuse of UK baled end-of-life tyres by Indian importers but have taken no action. Ships now being diverted via the Cape of Good Hope are seeing container rates for the shipment of used tyres dramatically increase from an average £850 to £2,000. Meanwhile tyre collectors at the lower reaches of the market, commonly operating under a licence known as a T8 exemption, have come to rely on disposing of the tyres they collect by exporting to the Indian sub-continent. These operators have seen the price of the 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.
Precedent for increase in illegal activity
The TRA explains that increased shipping rates have previously led to a variety of problems downstream. It states that 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.
T8 exempted operators are limited to storing 40 tonnes of tyre a week, with an average 26 tonnes of tyre making up one container for export, the challenge becomes clear with illegal storage expected to rocket. As unscrupulous end-of-life tyre operators come under pressure, 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, effecting water courses and the air we breathe. Meanwhile the Environment Agency and other enforcement authorities will struggle to keep up with the scale of rule breaking given the challenges already faced in preceding more stable times.
End-of-life tyre recyclers have been frustrated by the Government’s inability to implement the commitment made by the Environment Secretary to end T8 exemptions two years ago. With an election expected this year, a DEFRA letter dated 04 January 2024, from the Minister responsible for land waste has confirmed that this government does not expect to allocate the necessary parliamentary time to curtail the well documented abuse of the T8 exemption in this parliament.
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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