Asked by: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat - Wells and Mendip Hills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her department has made of the potential merits of adopting an Australian-style shred-only export mandate to i) permanently eliminate non-compliance at foreign receiving ports and ii) drive the development of a re-industrialised circular economy using End of Life Tyres as feedstock.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is aware of Australia's shred-only policy for exports of waste tyres, and officials have met with stakeholders, including from Australia, to better understand the rationale for the policy, its implementation, and the impacts reported to date.
The Department continues to monitor international approaches to waste tyre management and considers a range of evidence when assessing options for improving the environmental outcomes associated with end-of-life tyres and strengthening the circular economy.
Asked by: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat - Wells and Mendip Hills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her timetable is for laying statutory instruments to withdraw the T8 waste exemption for end-of-life tyres announced in August 2025; and what steps her Department is taking to support the circular economy in the context of unused licensed domestic tyre reprocessing capacity.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is finalising the drafting of the legislation to withdraw the T8 waste exemption for end-of-life tyres, and it will be laid in parliament when parliamentary time allows.
Regarding domestic reprocessing, there are a range of options for recycling tyres including the granulation of tyres for incorporation into carpet underlay, for sports and safety surfaces, as well as use as a fuel in cement kilns. The Government is committed to the wider transition towards a circular economy where resources are kept in use for longer and waste is designed out.
Asked by: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat - Wells and Mendip Hills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will reinstate the insistence on digital Annex VII prior to shipment and the insistence on geo-tagged location evidence of individual container shipments reaching their nominated end destination as set out in the reforms announced by the Environment Agency in August 2025.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency's (EA) enhanced compliance checks found no evidence of widespread diversion to illegal pyrolysis. As a result, it does not currently require digital Annex VII documentation or geo-tagged proof of arrival for every shipment.
The EA regulates waste shipments using an intelligence-led, risk-based approach. It may require digital Annex VII documentation, geo-tagged evidence of arrival, or other supporting information from individual operators where risk assessments or compliance concerns indicate that enhanced scrutiny is necessary.
The EA keeps its regulatory controls under review and will continue to assess whether additional measures are required to ensure compliance with waste shipment controls, while maintaining a proportionate and effective approach to regulation.
Asked by: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat - Wells and Mendip Hills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Environment Agency’s 13 August 2026 progress update of waste pneumatic tyres and their export, how many (a) prohibition notices have been served on brokers exporting from the UK and (b) overseas receiving facilities in India have been removed from the Environment Agency's approved list for failing to provide geo-tagged proof of arrival within the required deadline; and for what reason the Environment Agency has amended measures introduced to address UK End of Life Tyre exports going to batch pyrolysis plants in Asia.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
(a) The Environment Agency (EA) has served 50 prohibition notices on exporters of waste tyres from England.
(b) The EA has restricted exports to 31 destination facilities where exporters were unable to provide satisfactory return-tracking evidence, including the required geo-tagged proof of arrival. The restrictions prevent exports of waste tyres to those facilities.
Between October 2025 and July 2026, the EA carried out enhanced checks on more than 10,000 waste tyre shipments. These checks did not identify evidence of widespread exports to batch pyrolysis facilities. In light of these findings, the Environment Agency has revised its regulatory approach to provide proportionate assurance across the sector while targeting activity on operators that present the highest risk of non-compliance.
Asked by: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat - Wells and Mendip Hills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason the Environment Agency changed the evidence threshold for geo-tagged photographic proof of arrival under the enhanced Annex VII verification procedure for waste tyre exports to non-OECD nations, when mandatory Digital Waste Tracking requirements on compliant domestic UK tyre reprocessors is introduced domestically; and what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of those changes to exporter compliance on UK recyclers.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency's (EA) enhanced verification checks, which required evidence to demonstrate that waste had been correctly received overseas, examined more than 10,000 waste tyre shipments between October 2025 and July 2026 and found no evidence of widespread diversion to illegal pyrolysis. The EA has therefore moved to a risk-based approach, focusing scrutiny on operators of concern while maintaining regulatory oversight. The EA has not identified adverse impacts of this approach on compliant UK recyclers.
Future phases of Digital Waste Tracking are planned to strengthen information reporting requirements for exports of Article 18 wastes, including waste tyres.
Asked by: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat - Wells and Mendip Hills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of the 20th April 2026 to Question 124082, how many of the 3277 shipments referenced in her response as having taken place between the 28th October 2025 and 2nd February 2026 had exceeded the sixteen week deadline for the submission of post-shipment information as of the 30th April 2026; and of that number how many have not supplied geo-tagged photographic information within the sixteen week window.
Answered by Mary Creagh
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to her on 9 June 2026 for PQ UIN 6742.
Asked by: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat - Wells and Mendip Hills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her answer of the 25 February to question 113532, how many exporters or brokers who failed to comply with the requirement to provide post shipment information within the revised sixteen week deadline have now been issued with a prohibition or stop notice by the Environment Agency.
Answered by Mary Creagh
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to her on 9 June 2026 for PQ UIN 6746.
Asked by: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat - Wells and Mendip Hills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the answer of the 20th April 2026 to Question 124082, how many of the 548 shipments referenced in her response as having taken place between the 28th October 2025 and 2nd February 2026 which had exceeded the sixteen week deadline for the submission of post-shipment information by the 30th March 2026 and had not provided any information have subsequently provided the post shipment information required.
Answered by Mary Creagh
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to her on 4 June 2026 to PQ UIN 6743.
Asked by: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat - Wells and Mendip Hills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her answer of the 25th February to question 113532, how many of the 14 exporters or brokers referenced who had been issued with a warning notice have subsequently come into compliance and provided the post-shipment information required.
Answered by Mary Creagh
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to her on 9 June 2026 for PQ UIN 6745.
Asked by: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat - Wells and Mendip Hills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the answer of 25 February 2026 to question 113530, how many of the 50 receiving sites approved by the Environment Agency have post shipment information outstanding beyond the revised sixteen week deadline.
Answered by Mary Creagh
As of 10 June 2026, the Environment Agency (EA) has 66 receiving sites in India that it has assessed as suitable to receive waste tyres. There are shipments beyond 16 weeks for 20 of these sites. For these shipments, the EA has received information explaining the delays.