The Tyre Industry Federation Responsible Recycler Scheme

The TIF Responsible Recycler Scheme - A uniquely successful industry initiative

The Scheme was first launched under the banner of the Tyre Industry Council in 1999 with the support of the tyre manufacturers associations, BTMA and ITMA. Its intention was to improve the image of used tyre management by introducing new standards of best practice in which everyone, public, government and the wider tyre industry could have confidence.

Initially open to just tyre collectors the scheme quickly moved to embrace tyre recyclers and reprocessors in recognition of their common interests and in acknowledgement of the important role they would all have in helping tyre manufacturers, retailers and indeed Government itself meet the impending Landfill Directive. (Broadly, the Landfill Directive required that the disposal of whole tyres to landfill be prohibited from July 2003 and that of shredded tyres by July 2006).

Those leading the scheme realised at an early stage that whether or not concepts of producer responsibility were to be into the UK in support of the Directive the adoption of best practice concepts was essential in order to fully meet the challenges ahead.

Transparency, traceability and accountability are cornerstones of the TIF scheme. Responsible retailers, fleet companies and other users of tyres who use Scheme Members are guaranteed that the tyres collected by members of the RRS are disposed of in an environmentally friendly and acceptable method, whether recycled or used as a fuel in cement kilns, helping them comply with their Duty of Care obligations as well as protecting the environment. As a guarantee, those who subscribe to the scheme are subject to a stringent audit process conducted regularly by independent environmental audit specialists.

As a measure of its success the scheme continues to attract support as well as considerable international interest. In fact, it is out of this sense of purpose and collective professionalism which the scheme has engendered that the Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) has been born with every member of the scheme electing to become a trade body in their own right. In future, the TIF Responsible Recycler Scheme (now a registered trademark) will be hosted by the new TRA under licence from the Council.