BBC file on 4 investigation
Getty imagesThe Environment Agency (EA) has launched a comprehensive review from the UK in the waste tire shipment.
Last week, on 4 investigations, the BBC file heard that millions of these tires were sent for recycling – The makeshift was actually being “cooked” in furnacesDue to serious health problems and environmental damage.
Dirty -fighting pressure group has threatened legal action against EA, which is called “lack of action” on the issue of tire exports.
The EA has asked the group to wait until its review is completed, and it has also asked the file to share the evidence with its investigation on 4 investigations.
The UK produces about 50 million waste tires (about 700,000 tons) every year. According to official data, about half of these are exported to India, it is believed to be recycled.
But BBC file on 4 investigation It was discovered that some 70% of tires exported to India from the UK and the rest of the world are being sent to industrial plants, where they are “cooked” to extract steel, small amounts of oil – carbon black – a powder or pill, which can be used in various industries.
These plants conditions – many of which are in rural backwater – can be toxic and harmful to be potentially dangerous along with public health.
In January, two women and two children were killed in an explosion at a plant in the western state of Maharashtra, where European-Khatte tires were being processed.
A BBC team visited the site and saw, dying of vegetation and polluted waterways. The villagers complained of constant cough and eye problems.
After broadcast, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DFRA) told the BBC file on 4 investigations that the officers and lawyers within the EA were “very keen” to check the claims made in the program, including any possible criminal activity.
In a letter viewed by the BBC, EA lawyers stated that our investigation would be carefully considered as part of a review, which he has launched in his perspective to ruin the tire shipment.
He said that EA is working to attach the relevant environmental authorities in India on the issue and is taking steps to arrange a delegation to meet with the authorities later this year.
Since 2023, fighting the Dirty founder Georgia Elliot-Smith in correspondence with the EA on the issue, he said that it was a “major win” for the group and “the government should stop closing eyes for illegal and immoral activity”.
