Committee Welcomes Department Review of Used Tyre Disposal

The Northern Ireland Assembly Committee for the Environment has welcomed the news that the Department for the Environment plans to review used tyre disposal. Departmental Officials told the Committee at its meeting today, 22 September that it is developing an Action Plan to deal with the issue of illegally disposed tyres.

Committee Deputy Chair Simon Hamilton MLA said: " When the Minister for the Environment was up before the Committee in June we raised our concerns at the growing number of illegally dumped tyres. We highlighted that statistics on the number of used tyres are very out of date and that current processes for safe disposal of tyres do not appear to be working.

"We are pleased to hear that the Minister has taken our concerns on board and has decided to carry out a review of the issue. It's important to have accurate statistics and this information will be very useful to the Committee's Inquiry into used tyre disposal [1] . As a result we have decided to delay publishing our Inquiry report until these figures are available.

"Both the Committee's Inquiry and the Department's Review will be helpful in developing a clear action plan for tackling this issue which can cause environmental damage and costs land owners and local councils a lot of money."

ENDS