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BBC File on 4 Investigates
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The Environment Agency said it is introducing enhanced checks on the export of tyres from the UK after the BBC revealed millions were being sent to furnaces instead of being recycled in India.
A report by the EA acknowledged it is “highly likely” that a proportion of exported tyres were diverted to illegal furnaces.
These makeshift industrial plants, intended to extract steel, small amounts of oil and other materials, can cause serious health problems and environmental damage.
Campaigners and the tyre recycling industry body welcomed the announcement but said the proposal will not close all loopholes exploited by criminals.
The UK generates about 50 million waste tyres (nearly 700,000 tonnes) every year. According to official figures, about half of these are exported to India, supposedly to be recycled.
But in March of this year BBC File on 4 Investigates and Source Material, a non-profit journalism group, revealed that some 70% of tyres exported to India from the UK and the rest of the world are being sent to makeshift industrial plants, where they are “cooked” in order to extract carbon black – a powder or pellet that can be used in various industries – as well as the steel and oil.
This process is known as pyrolysis and takes place in facilities akin to homemade pressure cookers, often in rural backwaters. They can produce gases and chemicals which can be toxic, harmful to public health and potentially dangerous.
In January, two women and two children were killed in an explosion
