Euro tire makers refute scrap tire reporting charge

Crain News Service report

BRUSSELS (April 9, 2015) — The European Tyre Recycling Association (ETRA) is asserting that European tire manufacturers may be underreporting the amount of  “end-of-life tires” throughout Europe, but the tire makers refute the allegation, saying their reporting methodology changed recently and is being misinterpreted.  

The ETRA presented its assertion — that the amount of scrap tires reported by the European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturers Association (ETRMA) could be as much as 57 percent below the actual situation — at its 22nd annual conference in Brussels March 25-27.

In response, the ETRMA stated that the data presented in its 2014 statistics booklet were limited to countries with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) with an end-of-life tire management company, within the ETRMA network.

As such, the group said, the data represented only about 71 percent of the estimated arisings in the 14 countries represented.

According to the ETRA, the significance of under-reporting — should that be the case — is that both government and private tire recycling strategies and programs are based on the ETRMA data and therefore could affect budgets and budgeting processes.

“These are the figures upon which tire recycling strategies and programs are established throughout Europe, figures upon which investors base business plans,” the ETRA said.

The association pointed out in an email to Tire Business that the majority of tire recycling schemes in Europe is dominated by industry bodies created by statute – Aliapur in France, Signus in Spain, Ecopneus in Italy, etc., and that these bodies represent the main manufacturers.

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Based in part on reporting by European Rubber Journal.

This system appears to work in most of the western European markets, the ETRA said, but the ratio of tire arisings per capita falling in the Mediterranean and Eastern European states.

The group noted that if the actual figure is higher than the accepted statistics, it raises questions about the standard of data collection and recording across Europe, especially regarding “missing” scrap tire arisings, which appear to be occurring under the radar of the governing bodies and governments.

In addition, the ETRA said the industry should question the way imports and exports are accounted for. Europe's internal borders are porous with online sales growing annually, the group said, and those sales are unaccounted for by the states that are the point of delivery.

The ETRA is an independent association open to those involved in the diverse activities that contribute to the tire recycling industry. Based in Brussels, the association states its goal is to assist in the realization of cost-effective as well as environmentally sound and commercially viable tire recycling activities.

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