The Role of EPR in Sustainable Waste Management
Introduction
The problem of the disposal of end-of-life or waste tyres has become a serious problem in the whole world including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)— Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. It is a problem that has largely been ignored in the past. Waste tyres were used largely as landfill. The environmental, health and economic hazards are only realized when problems—like fires arise. In the Kirby Tire Recycling dump near the village of Sycamore in Wyandot County, Ohio, USA, a fire burned a tyre landfill spread across 14 acres in August 2009. Toxic smoke was visible as far as 70 miles. The fire lasted five days but took more than nine years to clean up the area at a cost of more than US$32 million. In a dumpsite in Wales, UK, about 9 million tyres burned for more than 14years . In 1990, in Hagersville, Ontario, Canada, firefighters struggle to put out a fire that burned 14 million tyres and lasted for about 17 days. Aside from the toxic smoke, about 600,000 litres of oil was released by the melting rubber, putting the water source of neighboring communities in danger. Such are the dangers of dumping end-of-life (EOL) tyres in landfills.
Recently, alternative ways of disposing EOL tyres have been found to be causing problems. In Florida, USA, tyres have been dumped into the sea to serve as artificial reefs. Ocean currents and storms have caused the tyres to move about and destroy natural reefs. The extent of the damage is still unquantified. A recovery program for the tyres is now ongoing to stop these waste materials from doing further damage. Unfortunately, what were once touted as environmental-saving ways of disposing tires, especially in the 1970s, have now become environmental hazards themselves.
These events have prodded governments in the EU, USA, and other developed countries to come up with recycling and waste management programs that involve the tyre manufacturers with the extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs.
Compared to the EU, the USA and other developed countries, the GCC has been behind in its tyre recycling and EPR programs.
Annual Tyre Wastes
The world crops up about 13.5 million tons of scrap tyres a year since 2010. Of these, the US is the biggest producer of waste tyres accounting for about 32.6% or 4.4 million tons; the EU is second accounting for 25.2% or 3.4 million tons. There no accessible statistics for the GCC. It is lumped in the “Rest of the World” data accounting for 42.2% or 5.7 million tons. Of the rest of the world figure, China and India accounts for the highest waste output . Please see Table 1 and Figure 1 in the Appendix.
While none of the GCC members are among the top producers of waste tires, some of them have the world’s largest accumulated waste tires. In particular, the tyre graveyard in Sulaibiya, Kuwait is the world’s largest waste tyre landfill that is visible in outer space. It has an estimated seven million tyres in the area. Please see Figure 2 in the Appendix. This is the kind of disposal that is not allowed in the EU, especially in the UK. The number of tyres in this dumpsite does not seem to be much as those in similar landfills in the EU and the US as mentioned above in the fires. However, the dumpsites in the EU and the US have been reduced through the years if not completely eliminated.
Recycling Success Rates
Recycling programs in the EU (plus Norway and Switzerland) have been highly successful with a 95% recovery rate. The US and Japan have also been highly successful with 89% and 91% recovery rates. Overall, the countries mentioned enjoyed a 91% recovery rate. See Table 2 in the Appendix.
There is almost a 100% improvement in the recovery rates in a 10 year period. In 1999, the recovery rate in the EU was less than 50%. In 2009, the rate was 96%. See Figure 4 in the Appendix.
The significant impact of EPR and recycling in the EU is on how much dumping in landfills has been reduced. Landfills declined as ELT arisings from 32% in 1996 to only 4% in 2009. See Figure 5 in the Appendix.
Meanwhile, the combined contribution of recycling, recovery (material and energy recovery), reuse and retreading routes amount to 96% used tyres recovery in 2009. In particular, energy recovery and material recovery account for 45% and 41% or 86% of the total. See Figure 5 in the Appendix.
EPR Practices in the EU
EU member countries are not exactly on their own when it comes to EPR practices. The Union has its Development of Guidance on Extended Producer Responsibility for member countries to follow . The guide does not apply specifically to scrap tyres. Rather, it covers all products that can be recycled and have environmental impact. The different EU members have their own and many other models to follow. In a way, the guide provides case and best practices studies.
The EU defines EPR as “an environmental policy approach in which a producer’s responsibility for a product is extended to the post-consumer stage of a product’s life cycle” . The concept was developed in Europe in the early 1990s. It was a response to improve and was derived from the Polluter Pays Principle (PPP). It assumes that once producers are made accountable for the pollution resulting from the use of their products, they reduce the environmental impact of these and reduce recycling costs.
Later documents however do not refer to the practice as EPR, but rather plain Producer Responsibility. Recovering and recycling products after their useful life has become a basic responsibility of the producer; it is not an “extension” of the producer’s responsibility. This evolution came about as the processes and plants have become established and operational. Recycling is now part of many producers’ routine operations, especially among the tyre manufacturers.
The Case of Flanders (Belgium
In Belgium, tyre manufacturers are required are required to take back 100% or the same number of tyres that were produced and distributed in the same year. The country has successfully done that. However, through the years, the country’s tyre recyclers had fluctuating revenues and expenses. The cause of which is mainly the economic crisis that began in 2008. The impact of EPR on manufacturers’ profitability is thus unclear.
However, the impact of taxes seems clear with regard to the focus of activities. Material recycling has continued to increase through the years with a corresponding decline in energy recovery. Apparently, the tax on incineration has made energy recovery an unattractive recycling activity. Producers thus focused their activities on material recycling.
Nevertheless, the recycling activities have had positive environmental impact as the equivalent of 100% of tyres produced every year is recycled. See Figure 6.
The Case of Sweden
While it adopted the general guidelines of EU, Sweden modified the implementation because of its small tyre manufacturing industry. The car industry could not support the EPR for car recycling by itself so it has to involve the consumer. The consumer has to carry part of the cost but the producer pays. To facilitate this, the producer charges the consumer the cost upon purchase of the vehicle. The vehicle needs to be recycled within a certain period to prevent the producer from spending additional cost of money, especially in crisis periods. The consumer should bring the vehicle to the recycling plant within a given period and pay for the cost of this transfer. An important aspect of the Sweden policies is that imported cars are not covered by EPR. After all, these cars were not manufactured by the producers there.
The Case of Brazil
Attempts at EPR in Brazil all failed. The country adopted the EU formula. Unfortunately, the country is very different from those in the EU. It lacked the discipline and the culture of the EU. It lacked prior experience in similar activities. The EU EPR processes can work in other countries only if all conditions as those in the EU are met.
EPR and Tyre Recycling in GCC
Information on tyre recycling, and much less on EPR, in the GCC are very scarce. This may be because the countries have very little activities in that regard. They seem to be fairly new in the practice of recycling. The situation in the different member countries is similar. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar may provide some insights on tyre recycling are practiced in the GCC.
Saudi Arabia
Motor vehicle ownership in Saudi Arabia has continued to grow in the past several years. It is one of the leading automotive markets in the Middle East. The government and tyre manufacturers operating in the country also plan to reduce the accepted life span of tyres. These development could lead to higher annual scrap tires output. Most of the tyres and rubber products are imported from other countries, mainly China.
There are attempts to make feasibility or profitability studies on establishing tyre recycling plants in the country. However, these are business propositions rather than EPR.
Kuwait
As late as 2010, Kuwait does not have any significant tire recycling facilities and much less any EPM programs and activities. Tires and rubber are mostly imported from abroad so there are hardly any producers to extend its responsibility. Like other GCC members, it has a shorter tire usage time so Kuwait’s used tires could actually be sold and reused. So, part of the country’s ways to dispose of used tires is to export these to other countries. It simply pushes the problem out of its borders. The problem seems to be a result of corruption. “In Kuwait we have the most expensive cleaning contracts that reached $1 billion a year if calculated per square meter. Yet the companies executing this do not provide basic services such as separating waste and others. Corruption is behind these problems,” Khalid Al-Hajiri , chairman of Green Line Environment Group.
Having a lot of vacant desert space, Kuwait has continued to allow dumping ELT at landfills. Apparently, no incidents of major environmental catastrophes like fires and toxic waste spread has occurred. So, the problem of mounting scrap tyres at landfills has not raised any concerns. No urgent action has thus been taken to address the issue.
In 2015, the Higher Committee for Coordination and Planning at Kuwait Municipality released plans to improve its tyre recycling and waste management processes. It has identified a new location where the used tyres will be held and six recycling plans will be relocated to the same place. The impact of these moves however still remains to be seen.
Qatar
Qatar has already a tyre recycling industry but these are business operation some aspects of which are funded by government. In spite for the huge demand for cars and tyre and rubber products, the tyre manufacturing industry is small. Most of the tyres sold in the country are imported. The industry cannot support an EPR program. However, the country has been actively recycling tyres. Unfortunately, there are not enough plants in the country. These recycling plants are already operating at full capacity and now have a huge backlog. The plants cannot cope with the huge amount of scrap tyres in the country. Qatar is one of the most progressive countries in the GCC. It also one of the world’s largest producer of waste products per capita. The problem of overloaded recycling facilities is true for many waste products, not only cars. Another problem for the tyre recycling plants is there is a low demand for their products in the country. Their products will have to be exported abroad.
Conclusion
EPR programs may not likely succeed in the GCC. In essence, EPR should only process the equivalent of the output of the manufacturers and not imports as the Swedish experience has shown. Most tyres and other rubber products in the GCC are imported. The tyre manufacturing industry cannot support the recycling programs on its own.
The EU economic formula cannot be adopted as is just anywhere in the world. The GCC seems to lack the culture and discipline to sustain the governance of EPR programs. The GCC seems to be fairly new in the whole business of recycling. It seems to lack the commitment and experience that most other countries have in environmental preservation and protection. EPR, as the name obviously connotes, is a matter that cannot be farmed out as some GCC members manage with many industries. Otherwise, the recycling process is not and should not be called EPR.
Clearly, the GCC needs more recycling plants. Existing ones cannot cope with existing demand. EPR cannot support this undertaking. They may not even be good business propositions as there is low demand for the products in the region. Understandably, members of the GCC are oil producing countries. They have no need for cheap, alternative sources of fuel to be used in power plants. Energy recovery is one of the bigger and more profitable products of recycling plants. Recycled material is the other important output. Unfortunately, there is low demand for this either. The product may need to be modified to suit local needs.
Tyre recycling will have to be a government undertaking. The governments could afford the expense anyway. The output products could be exported, although at a loss, to avoid an accumulation of another problem.
The role of EPR can only cover the recycling of tyres manufactured in the country. That is the capacity that existing manufacturers should be able to manage. Any expansion beyond this capacity would need government support.
Appendix
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