‘A little less conversation, a little more action’ – UK parliament discusses used tyre exports

The issue of used tyre exports was the subject of a Westminster Hall debate today (29 April) at 11:00. Tessa Munt, the Liberal Democrat MP for Wells and Mendip Hills, asked the Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Mary Creagh (Labour MP for Coventry East) a series of 13 questions around both the issue and the Environment Agency’s review of the situation, announced by the government in response to increased scrutiny of the sector. This was raised following a BBC documentary, The Tyre Scandal, exposing the damage caused by UK waste tyres being burnt in India, in addition to a legal challenge brought by the campaign group Fighting Dirty on the UK’s failure to prevent the illegal use of ELTs exported to India. The debate, which was welcomed by the Tyre Recovery Association, covered a lot of ground beyond the procedure used for the EA review, taking into account the loss to the UK’s circular economy these waste tyre exports represent as well as the legal and ethical problems associated with the current situation.