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| End of Life Tyres: January 2010 |
News 1 |
R4 Launches Ad Campaign The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
When dishonesty brings with it high rewards and low penalties crime is likely to follow.
Last year TRA member companies collected their reused or reprocessed 425,000 plus of waste tyres almost all under the banner of the TIF Responsible Recycler Scheme. This was an all-time record.
We were very considerably helped in this by a strong, renewed commitment to the RRS by new tyre manufactures and the strong support of many retailers.
Despite this record performance however our industry commitment to best practice in matters of tyre recycling is once again under substantial threat from a very significant rise in sham recovery operations and rogue collectors. This is starting to cause immense damage to our collections infrastructure by driving down collection charges to the point where the entire process could become uneconomic and unsustainable.
Undermining our image as a responsible industry
In Britain we operate a market based recovery infrastructure which should benefit everyone. The user pays a disposal charge to the collector who in turn uses it to cover his operational costs and also to fund the gate fees on which all reprocesses depend. It's a simple equation but these are hard economic times and the temptation to switch to `cheaper' operators is a strong one.
The current proliferation in the number of questionable operators can only store up new problems for the future and undermine our image as a responsible industry concerned to meet its full recovery obligations. So bad is the situation becoming that the Environment Agency is about to set up a special enforcement team to take a hard look at what is going on.
Great as far as it goes?
The Tyre Industry has long argued for more effective enforcement but the consequences of this drive may be less to our liking if it is the industry itself which ends up being fingered.
The ugly fact is that there is a small minority of tyre retailers and vehicle dismantlers who frankly don't care who takes away their scrap so long as the price is right. They feel under no obligation to inform themselves on where it might end up even though there is a legal duty of care to do so. We in Britain already have the lowest, cheapest and most comprehensive recovery network in Western Europe but for some that is still not enough and so it is the Environment Agency who must now tackle this on our behalf.
Peter Taylor, Secretary General TRA
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Huge Fire Destroys Tyre Firm
A boy has been arrested after a tyre firm was destroyed in a suspected arson attack.
Thousands of tyres went up in flames at the depot in Stockport which is a family-run business.
A huge plume of smoke hung over the plant and the fire service was ‚'inundated‚' with calls from the public.
It is understood that the firm had just received a large delivery of new tyres for commercial vehicles - £200 to £300 each.
The blaze at AL Tyres in Sheffield Street, Heaton Norris broke out shortly after 9pm. About 60 firefighters tackled the incident which caused many nearby roads to be closed.
Tony Hunter, spokesman for Greater Manchester Fire Service, said: "Initially three crews attended the fire and discovered a rapidly developing fire inside the building.
"Other crews were called in and hoses had to be laid to hydrants three quarters of a mile away to supply sufficient water.
"Two aerial appliances were used and nearby commercial buildings had to be sprayed with water to prevent the fire from spreading as the heat was so intense.
"A multi-agency investigation has begun but we believe the fire was started deliberately. There had just been a delivery of new tyres but the entire building has been devastated.
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R4 Launches Ad Campaign
R4 Ltd recently launched its first advertising campaign focusing on its environmental services to local businesses and organisations. The campaign will debut on local radio station, with the focus being on how R4's services make it easier for companies to recycle their vehicle tyres and catalytic converters. The advert was produced by the talented team at the Brownlow Youth Project radio station 'Xtreme FM. This is R4's first foray into radio advertising.
"I was really impressed by the professional approach this young talented team took to organising the production of the advert," said Lynn Kerr, Managing Director. "More people are interested in recycling in their organisation than ever before, and we hope that hearing these adverts will help make the choice an easier one. The young team at Xtreme realised that the environmental message straight away and were able to capture and convey that message through the advert.
R4 is gaining momentum in its quest to attract more local business to its recycling services since announcing its pioneering cross border tyre recycling in autumn 2009. Local businesses which already use the services of R4 include, Craigavon Borough Council, Lurgan Tyre Centre, Charles Hurst and Murrays, a solid platform R4 is building on.
The company is committed to providing & promoting the environmentally preferred option that its customers demand and demonstrating R4's long term sustainable disposal route.
Making it easier to be green.
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"Stop Rogue Operators"
Below is a letter to the Cornishman Newspaper in response to a recent article.
Sir,
The frustrating thing about this particular story is that the problem need never have occurred but there is a simple solution.
Within a short distance of Strawberry Lane, SW Tyre & Rubber Recyclers have been Legally accepting, collecting and processing tyres into re-useable products for 7 years. They are the only tyre disposal company in Cornwall that shreds and reclaims 100% of every tyre at their depot in St Erth, ensuring that tyre fitters do not unwittingly fail in their 'Duty of Care'. They would be able to process all of the dumped tyres within 1 week. Problem solved. Knowing this, why have the EA allowed 12000 tyres to remain at the Strawberry Lane site posing serious risks as outlined by Councilor Bob Amos?
Garages and tyre fitters have a 'Duty of Care' to ensure their tyres are disposed of correctly, evidently in the case of the 12000 tyres at Strawberry Lane, this has not happened.
Your article also mentions that some of the tyres may be exported to China! Exported for what purpose? On whose authority? Readers may be aware of the recent case of 40 containers of baled tyres exported illegally to Vietnam for which the perpetrators are facing criminal charges.
Regards the intention to use the Strawberry Lane , baled tyres in the local lily and duck ponds. An extensive Tyre Reef project attempted in Florida was branded an 'Ecological Disaster' after chemicals released by the tyres led to the creation of a 'dead zone' that is now inhibiting fish life and coral growth of the surrounding natural reefs. This area is now the subject of a 'Military Clean-up'. Is this really what we want in Cornwall ? Tyres remain a 'controlled waste' until the base materials are reclaimed. It is illegal to dispose of controlled waste without the relevant Waste Management Licenses. How long is the EA going to allow sites like Strawberry Lane to pop up all over England posing a massive threat to the environment, public health and a threat to the existence of all Legal, Licensed, and regulated Recyclers?
Regards, Kathy Robbins, SW Tyre & Rubber Recyclers
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Recycler's Investment in Plant
York-based tyre recycler Swiers and Grainger has invested £62,845 in recycling equipment to divert an extra 6,284 tonnes of rubber waste from landfill over the next three years and expand its operations.
Swiers and Grainger have purchased new equipment, including a pre-shredder, with £25,000 of funding from Resource Efficiency Yorkshire (REY). REY is a business support and market development programme funded by Yorkshire Forward and the European Regional Development fund (ERDF). The investment has tripled the Swiers and Grainger's processing speed allowing the company to recycle a wider variety of tyres.
Rowena Grainger director of Swiers and Grainger Ltd said, "Our existing shredding machine had the capacity to shred 360 tyres per hour, but cutting tyres manually meant that we couldn't load feedstock into it quickly enough to achieve that. The new pre-shredder automates tyre cutting. We can now load the main shredder to run to full capacity, tripling our productivity.
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| End of Life Tyres: January 2010 |
News 1 |
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