A heap of tyres. Image for representation.
Credit: iStock Photo
Millions of tyres of cars or other vehicles that are exported from the United Kingdom to India for recycling purposes are instead being burnt in furnaces and end up releasing toxic fumes that cause serious health hazards, a BBC report has revealed.
The UK produces around 50 million waste tyres weighing 7 lakh tonnes annually, and half of this is exported to India.
"I don't imagine there's anybody in the industry that doesn't know it's happening," the owner of one of UK's biggest tyre recycling plants told the publication.
The report reveals 70 per cent of all used tyres India imports are sent to industrial plants where they are burnt instead of being recycled.
At temperatures of 500 degree Celsius and in an oxyen-free envionment, these tyres are burnt in a process called pyrolysis. Instead of recycling these tyres, steel or small amounts of oil are extracted from these tyres, along with a material called carbon black, which is used in a number of industries.
The Indian government has banned pyrolysis of tyres that have been imported.
The publication carried out an investigation with help of a non-profit entity by hiding trackers in shipments of used tyres heading from the UK to India.
When the publication reached out to a company operating a compound where these tyres are burnt, it said what it is doing is neither dangerous nor illegal.
The report states that around half of the 2,000 pyrolysis plants in India are illegal.
The publication spoke to scientists at the Imperial College London who said workers working in pyrolysis plants are at risk of cardiological, respiratory, or cardiovascular diseases as well as some types of cancer.
The report also reveals that a number of UK companies exporting tyres send shipments way more than their permitted limit.
When the publication asked one person involved with the exporting of UK tyres to India what his thought was on these ending up adversely affecting the health of Indians, he said, "These issues are international. Brother, we can't do anything… I'm not a health minister."