Update on Shropshire Tyre Tagging
West Mercia Police Tyre Tagging Initiative
West Mercia Police have engaged with Smartwater to try and tackle the fly-tipping of tyres. Statistics suggest that there has been a six per cent rise in the incidence of tyre dumping in the last year.
The £10,000 project will see garages being given a kit to mark tyres scheduled for disposal, using an invisible but forensically traceable liquid.
The idea is that by tagging the tyres, the Police will be able to trace dumped tyres back to their source. This, they believe, will help combat unregistered collectors dumping tyres rather than taking them to a registered processer.
Across West Mercia, 10,000 incidents of fly tipping were reported in 2021, an increase of 6 per cent on the previous year.
Sergeant Marvin Choudhury, from West Mercia Police’s problem-solving support team, said: “Illegal fly-tipping is an issue across the force and by working with our partners at Smartwater and local authorities we hope to crack down on this offence.
“Over recent years we have started to notice a connection between tyres being dumped illegally and organised criminals.
“By tagging tyres that are no longer fit for purpose, it will allow us to locate which garage the tyres have come from and to see if they have any links to organised crime.
“Garages across all four policing areas within our force; Shropshire, Herefordshire, Telford & Wrekin and Worcestershire will benefit from this scheme, and I am very pleased to have the support of all nine local authorities within these areas.”
The scheme has also been backed by the Environment Agency, as illegally dumped tyres have a negative impact on the environment.
Tania Tucker, senior advisor from the Environment Agency, said: “This tyre tagging scheme initiative being launched by West Mercia Police in partnership with local councils, is timely to see as legitimate disposal costs of tyres have increased, leading to more occurrences of fly tipped and illegally dumped tyres.
Tyre tagging has also been promoted by the TRA as an option to reduce dumping. Of course, it only works if the retailers use the scheme, and they use registered collectors.
Source: Shropshire Star
