The EU Landfill Directive will ban the landfilling of virtually all tyres from July 2006, so that alternatives to landfill must be found by this date. Also, the EU Directive on End of Life Vehicles introduces from January 2006 a reuse, recovery and recycling target of 85% by average vehicle weight. By July 2006, it will therefore be necessary to have a reuse and recovery infrastructure in place capable of handling, on an ongoing basis, almost all used tyres arising.

On 2000 figures, this translates to an annual increase in tyre recovery activity of between 120,000 -150,000 tonnes between now and 2006.

The government believes that this objective is likely to be most efficiently met through voluntary measures since the UK already voluntarily recovers value from some 70% of tyres that are scrapped annually. However, this view is not supported by the relevant industry bodies who feel that voluntary measures may be insufficient to achieve the required increase in recovery.

The September 2001 government response to the Fifth Used tyres Working Group Annual Report indicated the government's intention to publish a discussion paper on statutory producer responsibility arrangements. This paper looked at such potential schemes, which could be introduced under section 93 of the Environment Act 1995 and similar powers in the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Northern Ireland) Order 1998.

Statutory Producer Responsibility is one of a range of potential options that have been put forward by the DTI should intervention prove necessary. Industry is generally supportive of statutory measures, however, the government has not decided on the best option as yet. Precedents, such as the Packaging Regulations, suggest that Producer Responsibility could represent a practicable option. As an interim measure the government is considering establishing a system of national reporting of tyre waste and recovery information in order to improve the data available.