Smaller tyre operators in England and Wales who store or process end-of-life waste tyres (ELTs) for recovery by baling, shredding, peeling, shaving or granulating do not need to obtain an environmental permit if they successfully apply for a T8 waste exemption from their regulator.
Who qualifies for a T8 exemption
In England and Wales, a T8 waste exemption allows an operator to handle up to 60 tonnes of truck tyres, or 40 tonnes of any other type of tyre, in any 7 day period for storage or treatment. Obtaining a T8 is free of charge and straightforward to obtain from the Environment Agency – and does not require a site inspection before it is issued. A registered waste exemption lasts for 3 years.
1,149 T8 exemptions were registered in England as of September 2022 according to a statement in the House of Commons issued by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Aside from recyclers, this number includes farmers who store tyres for use as silage clamps.
T8 exemption does not apply in Scotland
In Scotland, the T8 exemption was removed by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) in 2016 amid concerns about the unsafe storage of tyres in illegal sites. The new legislation required all waste operators who collect waste tyres and store them prior to treatment or recycling to apply for a waste management licence. Anyone found to be keeping or treating waste tyres without an appropriate licence faces a maximum penalty of £40,000 and/or six months in prison.
T8 exemption reform is delayed in England and Wales
Defra has declared its intention to follow Scotland’s lead and remove T8 exemptions across England, but this requires legislative changes whose timing is uncertain. Defra’s mandatory digital waste tracking (MDWT) service is due to launch in April 2025, replacing a range of paper-based processes and waste reporting requirements with a UK-wide digital database, although few believe the deadline will be met. If and when MDWT is introduced, waste transfer notes, waste consignment notes and T8 exemptions are all likely to be phased out over time in favour of a digital system.
Waste handling in Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland all activities involving the treatment, keeping or disposal of waste must be authorised by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA). Some activities involving waste materials are exempt from licensing if they meet the requirements detailed in Regulation 17 of the Waste Management Licensing Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003.
Controversy about the T8 waste exemption
T8 exemptions were introduced to eliminate the burden of red tape from a limited number of waste activities that were considered low risk. However, permitted recyclers of waste tyres have anonymously complained to the tyre and rubber recycling trade journal that some operators are taking advantage of the exemption. This, it is argued, amounts to a ‘two tier playing field’ whereby operators with T8 exemptions are spared the time and expense of applying for an environmental permit, or complying with its requirements, which includes paying fees and investing in site infrastructure.
Scrap tyre exports to India
The Tyre Recovery Association has raised concerns that the T8 exemption is encouraging the export of baled end-of-life tyres to overseas destinations such as India that have lower environmental standards, rather than encouraging operators to process tyres in the UK, which is currently the more costly disposal option. Transforming tyres into higher value secondary raw materials such as chip, shred or granules makes them suitable for use as aggregate in civil engineering, for example. They can also be put to ‘beneficial use’ in high quality tyre-derived fuel (TDF). By contrast, less efficient and often poorly regulated batch pyrolysis plants that are common in low and middle income countries tend to use whole tyres.
