In today’s Finshots, we break down how tyre recycling issues are fueling an environmental crisis in India.

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The Story 

India is one of the world’s largest tyre manufacturing nations, producing around 20 crore tyres annually. And it’s not just domestic demand that keeps the industry running, our tyre exports are thriving too. In fact, we exported tyres worth over ₹12,000 crores in just the first half of FY25. And guess where most of them go? To the United States (US). The US accounts for more than 15% of our tyre exports in value terms. Brazil, Germany, the UAE, France and Italy follow close behind. And when it comes to motorcycle tyres, Colombia in South America is our biggest customer.

But here’s the catch. While we export fresh tyres, many Western nations are also sending us something in return: their used-up, end-of-life tyres (ELTs).

Now, these ELTs are essentially waste, shipped to India for recycling. And their sheer volume is staggering, to say the least. To put this in perspective, in 2023 alone, India received 800,000 tonnes of scrapped tyres. And here’s another sobering fact. India actually purchases over 30% of the world’s scrapped tyres. If you’re wondering why, we’ll talk about it a little later in the story. 

However, what’s causing ripples in environmental communities and tyre associations in both India and the United Kingdom (UK) is that nearly half of the tyre scrap to India comes from just one country: the UK. And the sheer amount of pollution it’s causing is alarming.

How’s that, you ask?

You see, this tyre scrap that lands in India is meant for recycling. And when done right, tyres undergo quite the transformation.

Take the steel, for instance. It makes up about 20% of a tyre. Once extracted, it’s cleaned and sent to smelters, where it finds new life in construction and manufacturing. Then there’s the fibre and nylon, around 15% of the mix, which ends up in carpets, fibreglass and clean-up materials such as absorbent pads and mats used for things like oil spills.

And the rest is mostly rubber. But that doesn’t go to waste either. Some of it turns into tyre-derived fuel (TDF), shredded scrap tyres that supplement traditional fires in controlled industrial settings. Then there’s rubber mulch, a favourite for playgrounds and gardens, and crumb rubber, which gets repurposed for athletic tracks, road surfaces and speed bumps. If processed further, it becomes rubber powder, a high-performance material used in plastics, sealants and even new rubber products.

So yeah, nearly every part of a recycled tyre finds a new destination with a useful purpose.

However, the problem starts when these ELTs, especially from the UK, end up in illegal pyrolysis plants across India.

Pyrolysis, in simple terms, is like extreme cooking. Tyres are heated in an oxygen-free environment at around 500°C to extract fuel and other byproducts. But when done improperly, it turns into an environmental disaster. These makeshift plants release a cocktail of toxins: heavy metals, benzene, dioxins and furans — many of which are highly carcinogenic. You can spot these illegal setups by the thick soot in the air, dying vegetation and polluted waterways nearby.

The plant owners, of course, make money. But environmental concerns and public health aren’t exactly on their priority list.

And that begs the question: Why is the UK dumping its tyre waste in India anyway?

It’s not like they lack the infrastructure to recycle tyres at home. They do. But sending them abroad is simply cheaper. Investing in shredding machinery is expensive, and Indian pyrolysis plants are willing to pay more for scrap tyres.

In the UK, scrap tyres were once compressed into blocks for road foundations, embankments and drainage beds. But the companies making these blocks have either shut down or are struggling because they can’t compete with the prices Indian recyclers offer. Add to this the rising demand for industrial fuel, cheap Chinese-made pyrolysis machines (which otherwise cost tens of millions of dollars) available for as little as $30,000, and weak regulations, and the trade is thriving.

And here’s the real kicker. Tyres aren’t classified as hazardous waste under the Basel Convention. So, unless the importing country explicitly bans them, there are hardly any restrictions on the global tyre trade.

The irony here is that we as a country already generate a massive pile of waste tyres domestically, about 2,75,000 every day, as per a 2021 MoHUA report. Yet, we continue to import millions more, worsening the crisis.

Also, the UK’s regulations are laughably lax. Exporters just declare their buyers, and the UK checks with India if these buyers are legitimate. But after that there’s no tracking, no accountability, not even official export figures.

Becoming a tyre trader in the UK is ridiculously easy, too. All you have to do is fill out a simple “U2 environmental exemption” form, collect used tyres, and while they’re technically meant for construction, nothing stops traders from shipping them straight to India. Once the tyres leave British shores, the UK washes its hands of them.

The Indian government, however, has started cracking down. The Ministry of Environment has banned the import of waste tyres meant for pyrolysis. The Central Pollution Control Board, acting on directives from the National Green Tribunal, has already shut down 270 illegal pyrolysis plants across 19 states. And to add another layer of accountability, a new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework now makes tyre manufacturers responsible for collecting and properly disposing of waste tyres.

But despite these efforts, the problem persists. The Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ATMA) is now pushing for a complete ban on waste tyre imports, pointing out that these imports have surged fivefold since FY21.

Now, the onus lies on the UK. Just like Australia that completely banned exporting these ELTs to other countries, if the UK follows suit, then the crisis in India can be controlled. 

And if this doesn’t happen, the question is, will India put its foot down before the crisis spirals further?

Until then…

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