To ask the Minister of the Environment what actions his Department is taking to improve the audit trail for managing tyres from purchase to disposal.

The Department does not have the powers to audit tyres when purchased for use on vehicles. Further, tyre retailers, distributors and wholesalers do not require a waste authorisation from the DOE (NIEA) for waste tyres that have been produced on their premises.

Once tyres become waste, the tyre retailer is required to comply with the Duty of Care Regulations and the statutory Code of Practice. The business must ensure that the collector of the waste tyres is registered with the DOE (NIEA) as a waste carrier and that a waste transfer note is completed and retained by both parties for at least 2 years. The waste carrier must also comply with Duty of Care and only deliver waste tyres to a suitably authorised waste recycling facility.

The Department has allocated staff to audit the completion and retention of waste transfer notes. The team will be concentrating on the audit of waste tyres from the retailer to the carrier and finally to disposal by the waste operator on a risk basis.

The Department working in partnership with the Chief Environmental Health Officers Group (CEHOG) has set up a tyre pilot study in four council areas; Cookstown, Ballymoney, Strabane and Antrim. Phase 1 of the study includes joint inspections by Environmental Health Officers and DOE staff to respectively audit part worn/waste tyres on tyre retailer premises.

DOE also has in place a Flytipping pilot project with most of the District Councils. This project provides an audit trail for waste tyres that have been flytipped on public land and removed by the authorised contractor.