Ecopneus will increase collections from tyre dealers by up to 20 per cent. This comes in response to a missive from the Directorate General for the Circular Economy addressed to the EPR agencies in Italy. The increase is in line with a directive from 11th December 2020.
Ecopneus to Up Collection by 20%
Federico Dossena, Ecopneus General Manager said; “The provision is to stem the critical situation, on which we will immediately give our active contribution; however, it is necessary to get to work on tracking and controls to give structural answers.”
Previously, in December 2020, a circular from the Ministry of Ecological Transition required the EPR agencies to collect in 2021 a share of ELTs greater than 15 per cent compared to their legal targets, with the possibility of a further increase to 20 per cent which materialized with the recent measure. This measure addresses the ongoing issue of the collection of ELTs, a phenomenon that originates from the flow of tyres that illegally enter the national aftermarket and which experts estimate at least 30/ 40,000 tons per year.
“We need to work on structural solutions to the problem, also through tyre tracking and control mechanisms that can avoid any market distortion caused by illegal tyre flows.” Declared Ecopneus General Manager Federico Dossena.
“This is a complex situation to which we have always responded effectively, collecting over 130,000 tons of ELTs in the past ten years, in excess of legal obligations”.
The “Cambio Pulito” project was also born from this sense of responsibility, which between 2015 and 2019, starting with Ecopneus, also involved the other main EPR, the trade associations of tyre specialists and manufacturers of tyres, with the coordination of Legambiente.
In addition to creating a tax evasion of about eighty million euros a year, this ” illegality” also has consequences for honest operators, in terms of unfair competition from those suppliers who have not paid any recycling fees on the tyres that they import.
In fact, tyres introduced illegally, in addition to not having paid the environmental contribution necessary to cover the costs of collection, transport and recycling (about 12 million euros a year), alter the overall count on which the entire system is based: they are real “ghost” tyres, indistinguishable from those purchased legally, which do not contribute to the calculation of how many ELTs are to be collected but which are still physically present in the workshops.
The intervention of the directive aims to face this potential environmental emergency and to alleviate the situation of the operators in particular in some Regions where the greatest criticalities are encountered (Liguria, Lazio, Campania, Sardinia, Calabria and some areas of Puglia, Basilicata, Valle d’Aosta and Trentino-Alto Adige, in part reported to the Ministry by Ecopneus).
Ecopneus reports that considering the coming winter tyre change, a peak in arisings is to be expected.
