The Tyre Scandal – BBC File on 4 Investigates
A BBC File on 4 investigation has uncovered alarming failings in the UK’s waste tyre industry—from illegal exports and fire hazards to fraudulent recycling practices undermining environmental policy.
After months of investigation and discussion, the BBC has finally produced its File on 4 investigation into what happens to the UK’s waste tyres
Listen now on BBC Sounds or BBC Radio 4 at 20:00 GMT on Tuesday, 24 March, and at 11:00 GMT on Wednesday, 25 March. The programme is available for up to one year from the publication date.
If you are concerned about this issue, you can write to your MP, and many recyclers are doing so. However, it has to be the MP for the constituency in which you live, not your business constituency, if that is different.
For the most part, everyone in the tyre recycling sector is aware of what happens, but this takes the story to a broader audience. A wider audience can help increase pressure on DeFRA and the EA to act. Listeners will smile at Eddie, the tyre fitter, claiming that he had no idea what happened to the tyres he charged his customers £3 per tyre to dispose of. It’s a pity they didn’t explain how much the rogue operators were charging to take the tyres away.
It is to their shame that DeFRA and the EA provided standard responses that essentially ignored the evidence presented to them. Plus ça change!
The derisory responses to questions by the T8 operator in Rochdale (you can quickly identify who this is with a simple search) exemplify the problem: everyone is doing it, so why not us? Tyre and Rubber Recycling was instrumental in directing the investigating team to the T8 issues, and it was refreshing to see that they did focus on the T8 abuse as part of the problem. Waste is a significant problem in the UK, encompassing not only tyre waste but also plastics, household waste, and paper waste, among others. It is almost as if the Department responsible for waste was not fit for the purpose – the reality is that DeFRA and the Environment Agency do not have the capacity to oversee waste management in the UK properly. This is evidenced by the fact of unmanageable household landfills, unrecycled exported plastics, and illegally treated waste tyre exports.
There is a theory that since the UK no longer has enormous waste tyre piles, there is no problem. So, there’s nothing else that needs to be done. Another theory is that DeFRA and the EA are aware of what is going on but have refused to act, or have held back acting because a ban on the export of whole waste tyres, or a ban on the export of waste tyres to India would result in an environmental disaster in the UK as we do not have the capacity, not the markets to treat the waste tyre arisings domestically.
Below are a couple of links that readers may find interesting. The first is widely available on YouTube, and the TRA has used the second to highlight the problem, and it has been sent to the EA and DEFRA.
There is another video, which we would like to link to, showing a UK operator knowingly baling and shipping to India for pyrolysis and boasting about it. We have withheld that link for legal reasons.
Learn more about Klean’s solutions:
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Exposing the Truth — Delivering Real Tire Recycling Solutions
The BBC’s investigation sheds light on the growing crisis in the UK’s waste tyre handling, where loopholes, poor enforcement, and illegal exports are harming communities and the environment.
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✅ Fully licensed, traceable tire pyrolysis systems
✅ Circular solutions backed by ISCC certification & KleanLoop™ tech
✅ Transparent supply chain management to stop illegal diversion
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