UK recovers 167 000 tonnes of old tyres in first half

London -- In the first half of 2005, members of the UK Tyre Recovery Association collected over 167,000 tonnes of end of life tyres. On an annualised basis this figure suggests that members of the Association now account for the collection and recovery of around 75% of UK arisings, up from 64% in 2004.

Of the received tonnages more than 33 percent went to materials recycling (shred, granulate, powders etc) more than 20 percent to energy recovery while much more of the remainder could be accounted for by the retreading and engineering uses.

TRA Secretary General Peter Taylor hailed these latest performance as a further indication of the significant progress made by the Tyre Recovery Association and by the UK tyre industry generally in fostering best practice and in facing up to the challenge of the EU Landfill Directive which will prohibit almost all end of life tyres being sent to landfill after July 2006.