WRAP sets up protocol for recycling used tyres

ERJ staff report (SS) Rotherham, UK -- UK-based Environment agency WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) has set up a quality protocol in order to make it easier for businesses to benefit from using tyre-derived rubber materials in applications such as flooring, road surfacing, aggregates and footwear.

With more than 100 000 used tyres removed from vehicles in the UK every day, the initiative aims to make it easier and cheaper for companies to reprocess used tyres into valuable products.

Under the protocol, used tyres will no longer be classified as waste, making the recycled rubber more marketable and giving customers a quality guarantee, said WRAP, in an 8 Jan statement.

“Placed end to end, the annual tyre waste of England and Wales would stretch from London to Cardiff more than 100 times,” said Martin Brocklehurst, head of external waste programmes at the Environment Agency, in the statement.

“With so many cars, vans and trucks discarding tyres, we have potential to access more than 40 000 tonnes of recycled rubber,” he added.

The protocol could therefore stimulate growth in the reprocessing sector, providing easier access to an important resource with a significant number of applications, according to Dr Richard Swannell from WRAP.

Recycled rubber from tyres can be used for; landscaping, paving, piping, construction and civil engineering as well as landfill engineering, roof tiling, acoustic barriers, waterproof membranes, flooring screed and wall plaster.