Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what due diligence his Department undertakes relating to used tire exports to India for recycling purposes.

The UK and India are both parties to the Basel Convention which provides the system for controlling movements of hazardous and other wastes between countries. It is fully implemented in UK law through Regulation (EC) 1013/2006 on the shipment of waste and the UK Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations 2007. Under Regulation (EC) 1013/2006, most exports of non hazardous wastes destined for recycling to non-Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries are subject to light touch international export controls known as ‘green-list’ controls. The European Commission asks non-OECD countries, including India, to indicate where more stringent controls are required. India has indicated that exports of tyres from the UK can be exported under green-list controls and must also meet the requirements of Indian regulations.

The UK environmental regulators take an intelligence led approach to checking compliance with waste export regulations. They carry out proactive and intelligence led inspections to stop waste shipments that breach these regulations before they leave our ports. Where concerns are raised about a recycling facility in other countries, further information is requested from the relevant authorities in that country to confirm sites are permitted and regulated according to their national laws.

In our recently published Resources and Waste Strategy, we set out plans to introduce Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for more waste streams, including tyres. This will increase the responsibility on tyre producers regarding their end of life. We are also further developing a range of measures including: increased monitoring of international waste shipments, improved provision for waste repatriation, and charging higher fees to improve compliance. These changes aim to ensure any waste we do send abroad is fit for recycling, and that it is recycled to equivalent standards as required in the UK. This should create a more level playing field for domestic recyclers as well as reducing the chances of exported tyres being mishandled.