New India waste-tire regs could drive up EU recycling costs

New Delhi –Indian government is set to tighten its extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulations to cover new and waste tires – a development which could have a major impact on the European tire recycling sector.

In a draft of the EPR document published 31 Dec 2021, the Indian environment ministry said it intended to implement the new measures in the financial year 2022-23, starting 1 April.

The regulation, according to a translation of the document, will now cover “production/manufacture of new tires, import of new/waste tires and waste tire recycling activities.”

The draft covers any process or action of converting tire waste into: reclaimed rubber; crumb rubber; crumb rubber modified bitumen; recovered carbon black; and pyrolysis oil/char.

Among other measures, the regulations would restrict the import of waste tires for the purpose of producing pyrolysis oil or recovered carbon black.

Other waste tire importers will have to recycle 100% of tires imported in a year, the document added.

For new tire manufacturers and importers, the draft document sets a series of recycling targets, starting from 35% of the volume for the first year. 

In the 2023-2024 financial year, the suppliers will have a recycling target of 70%, and by 2025 the figure will increase to 100%.

Under the new act, the producer – or importer – of tires will be responsible for the fulfilment of the regulation by purchasing EPR certificates from registered recyclers only.

The European recycling industry has previously warned that environmental compliance moves by India and other Asian importers would drive up the cost of tire recycling in the EU and beyond.

The UK’s Tyre Recovery Association, for instance, has long warned that the true cost of tire recycling was being masked by artificially low pricing for exported waste, especially to India.