| It is now standard practice for tyre retailers to | | | | best practice in the tyre recovery industry and helps |
| impose a tyre disposal charge when you change your | | | | protect against the continuing scourge of fly-tipping. |
| tyres, which tends typically to be about £1.00 a | | | | In the UK around 40 million tyres are taken off car, |
| tyre. You may wonder why you have to pay this | | | | vans, trucks and buses every year, a total of |
| charge - after all tyre disposal charges have not | | | | 440,000 tonnes. That is a huge amount of scrap to |
| always been the norm. | | | | dispose of and it has to be paid for somehow. |
| The real answer to this question is that it is a simple | | | | Although the UK tyre recovery industry currently has |
| case of economics - a case of supply and demand. | | | | enough capacity to cope with scrap tyre arisings, the |
| Going back twenty years the scrap disposal scenario | | | | balance between overcapacity and undercapacity is |
| was totally different to the way it is today. It used | | | | relatively fine. |
| to be the case that car tyre retreading companies | | | | Of key importance in the tyre disposal market in the |
| would collect the majority of used tyres as the raw | | | | UK is The Landfill Directive, which was adopted by |
| material for their production. They used to pick up | | | | the UK in July 1999. This banned the disposal of |
| the used tyres free of charge (or even pay for the | | | | whole tyres by landfill from July 2003 and shredded |
| privilege). | | | | tyres from July 2006. This has changed the entire |
| However, that was when over 4 million retreaded car | | | | scenario of how tyres are disposed of and recycled |
| tyres were sold in the UK every year. In the | | | | in the UK and Europe. There are a number of ways in |
| meantime the market for British manufactured | | | | which scrap tyres are recycled in the UK although all |
| retreads has been squeezed by cheap new tyres | | | | of these can be defined as either reuse, recycling or |
| from the Far East to the point where the UK market | | | | recovery. |
| is no more than a tenth of what it was. This means | | | | Retreading is still considered to be one of the most |
| that retreaders no longer pick up the scrap tyres. | | | | preferable method of tyre recycling as it effectively |
| This is done by professional tyre disposal companies | | | | doubles the life of the new tyre, reducing the |
| who need to charge the retailer for this service. | | | | numbers of new tyres needed and thereby |
| Much of the tyre disposal in the UK is now carried | | | | minimising waste. Retread still make up nearly half of |
| out by members of the Responsible Recyclers | | | | all truck tyres on the road but the number of car |
| Scheme, which is now administered under license by | | | | tyres that are retreaded is now relatively small. |
| the Tyre Recovery Association. Members of the | | | | Other common uses for scrap tyres include sports |
| scheme guarantee that the tyres collected are | | | | and recreational surfaces, landfill engineering, carpet |
| disposed of in an environmentally friendly method, | | | | underlay/floor coverings, and road building. Roads |
| whether recycled or used as a fuel in cement kilns. | | | | manufactured using crumb rubber last longer, have |
| As a guarantee, members of the scheme are subject | | | | better traction and reduce noise. |
| to a stringent audit process conducted regularly by | | | | In the UK scrap tyres are also widely used as a fuel |
| independent environmental audit specialists. | | | | in cement kilns as an alternative to the traditional fuel, |
| The Responsible Recyclers Scheme also promotes | | | | coal. |