The UK’s Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) is warning that recent steep increases in the cost of old tyre disposal may lead to a significant rise in the illegal dumping of old tyres on private land and in fly-tipping generally.

A recent significant reduction in often questionable waste tyre exports to the Indian sub-continent has resulted in a return to more legitimate recycling and recovery outcomes of the kind we all want to see. Responsible recycling outcomes of the kind we should all be encouraging do, however, come at a modest cost which can also attract criminal elements who simply charge, collect, then dump said TRA Secretary-General, Peter Taylor. He continued “recycling gate prices for old tyres have risen significantly in the past few months and this fact may well provide new opportunities for the unscrupulous. We must all be on our guard”.

Cash-strapped Local Authorities and others who have to deal with tyre disposal and clean-up need to be more aware of this heightened risk and only engage with recognised professional tyre collectors and reprocessors such as our own Responsible Recycler Scheme members, in this way they will be fully facing up to their legal duty of care in these current volatile market conditions.