Producer responsibility ‘no fix’ for tire recycling

Warwick, UK – Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is not an effective answer to issues around the management of end-of-life tire (ELTs), according to Tim Stott, president if the Tyre Recovery Association (TRA).

“EPR is no quick fix, just a start,” Stott said at the TRA’s recent annual Recycling Forum Day. “We need something better than that.”

According to Stott, the command and control’ approach “sometimes termed ‘eco-fee’ is severely constraining when it comes to… genuine market development, and it comes at a cost.”

“Simply hoovering up our waste tires without them properly fully valorising them is just not enough,” Stott added at the forum held 18 June at the Ardencote Manor Hotel in Warwick.

Instead, the TRA president said tire recyclers need better opportunities to engage with the market, investors and with entrepreneurs.

“For industries like recycling to take root and grow they need a conducive commercial environment in which to do so,” said Stott – highlighting the need for government support in this process.

Key areas for government support, he went on to say, are: A level playing field where everyone has the same compliance obligations; an end to exemptions; effective compliance; and an investment-friendly environment for those investing in recycling which fully acknowledges the ‘proximity principle’.