The owner of Norfolk’s notorious tyre mountain has admitted he has “no idea” to which country he has sent more than 350 tonnes of potentially polluting rubber, saying it is “not our problem”.

Roger Gawn told the EDP that it would cost him £2m to get the estimated million tyres recycled in the UK, but that shipping them overseas to “a big country, I know not where” is only costing £500,000.

Environmentalists and councillors condemned his approach calling it “exporting our pollution”.

It comes in the week a small wild fire sprang up on a patch of scrubland only 300m away from the tyre mountain, near Fakenham, but fire chiefs insisted they have robust contingency plans in place should the tyres be threatened by flames in this dangerous dry spell.

Mr Gawn, controversial businessman and owner of the tyre pile in the Tattersett business park since 2009, told the EDP that the process of shredding and bailing the tyres into bundles then packing them into shipping containers would resume shortly after a recently-hired employee was fully trained.

He said: “We’ve sent two containers off-site five or six weeks ago. It will become a regular thing.

“They’re going to a very very big country. Not China. I have no idea where they’re going but I’m told by the people that take them away that’s where they go - a big country. I’ve got no proof where they go.”

He said he was required to provide proof of origin and “do the environmental documents” but “where they go, it’s not our problem.”

He went on: “We’ve heard they get shipped to Antwerp, and then go off somewhere.

“I’ve got rid of 350 tonnes of them so far. They’ve all gone off in containers to Holland. And then somewhere we know not where, we only know it’s another country.”

Asked if he could have had them recycled in the UK, he said: “That’s all well and good but it’s massively more expensive. Four times more expensive.

“Getting rid of that pile will cost half a million, if they all go off for recycling it’s two million.”

He proposed that the government should create tyre drop-off points around the UK and that a levy be put on all new tyres, in order to pay for domestic tyre recycling.

Environmental campaigners' reaction

Jenn Parkhouse, of Norfolk Friends of the Earth, said: “I’m flabbergasted. This is a classic case of UK waste being shipped abroad, and what we’re doing is we’re exporting our emissions and our pollution.

“It could be a really missed opportunity because all kinds of products can be made from recycled tyres.”

James Harvey, spokesman for Extinction Rebellion Norfolk, said: “We’re exporting our pollution - to the third world probably.

“We’ve seen the stories of how they end up in parts of the world where the regulation is much less stringent, they can be burned or pollute the landscape or whatever.

“Morally it’s incomprehensible we can export out problems to them for the sake of money. It’s amazing the morals of some people.”

He said such exports should be more stringently regulated.

What do local councillors say?

North Norfolk district councillor Nigel Lloyd said: “This mountain has been a carbuncle for the council and residents for years.

“But this is not the sort of thing we would be looking for, from the council’s perspective. What you describe ... is not the sort of solution we would endorse.”

His colleague councillor John Rest said: “That’s not good enough. There should be a record of where they’re going.”

County councillor Tom Fitzpatrick said he welcomed them being moved, but wanted it done “in an environmentally friendly way, that’s not simply displacing the problem.”

What can old tyres be used for?

Recycled tyre rubber can be put to many uses including the soft matting for children’s playgrounds and in recent years EU countries have increased tyre recycling rates to almost 95%.

But a 2017 study from the US found that of tyres which were scrapped, 43% were burned as “tyre-derived fuel” (TDF) and 17% were disposed of in landfill.

TDF is made from shredded scrap tyres mixed with coal or other fuels. Studies have found TDF produces the same or more emission as other fossil fuels but also releases zinc oxide from the tyres into the atmosphere, which is toxic to plant and aquatic life.

Tyre mountains in the world’s poorer countries, where environmental regulations are more lax, can be a major hazard.

The world’s largest tyre graveyard, in Sulaibiya, Kuwait, has seen repeated toxic fires including a 25,000 sq m blaze of a million tyres in October 2021 which could be seen from space. It caused severe air pollution and oils and heavy metals leached into the ground and water supply.

View from the authorities

A Norfolk County Council spokesman said it does not have any power to enforce how private individuals and companies deal with their waste.

An Environment Agency spokeswoman said: “Business owners have a duty of care to carry out assessments on the companies that receive their waste for processing.”

An NNDC spokesman said: “The council is actively addressing the issue of the tyres with the landowner, and a planning enforcement notice has been served requiring removal of the tyres from the site.

“The council expects full compliance with the notice and for this work to be carried out responsibly and lawfully“.

The spokesman said he could not comment further while the enforcement action was ongoing.

The planning enforcement notice was first issued in May of 2015, with instructions to remove 2000 tonnes of tyres by October 2016, a further 2,000 by October 2017 and the remaining tyres by October 31, 2018.

Is the tyre mountain a fire hazard?

A tyre fire in Nottinghamshire which erupted last Friday has continued burning despite 14 fire engines arriving quickly to fight the blaze.

Emergency services suspect arson and expect it to burn for several more days. A 1989 tyre fire in Wales was still smouldering 15 years later.

Last Tuesday evening, flames burst out on a patch of scrubland only 300m from the tyre mountain in Tattersett Business Park. They were quickly extinguished after four fire engines arrived within minutes.

But in these dry conditions, is the pile of a million tyres safe?

Tyre fires release a dark, thick smoke that contains cyanide, carbon monoxide, and sulphur dioxide.

They are notoriously difficult to extinguish. Tyres are designed to have low thermal conductivity meaning once they are hot and burning it is hard to cool them down and put them out.

However that also means it is hard to set them alight, requiring temperatures of 400C for several minutes.

Mr Gawn insisted his site was safe and that “you would need a blowtorch” to ignite his rubbery piles.

He said: “There’s no such thing as spontaneous combustion, if tyres burned in hot weather all the tyres on the road would be bursting into flames.”

He sad he had water tanks at the site and was in regular contact with fire chiefs.

A spokesman for Norfolk Fire and Rescue explained officers visit regularly. He said: “An annual review is carried out to review the current risk and plan for dealing with any incidents, and as part of that planning there are large emergency water supplies on the site that the Fire Service could pump from in the event of a fire.

“In the event of a fire, Norfolk Fire & Rescue Service have a pre-determined attendance of at least four appliances plus additional water carrying vehicles and a high volume pump which can provide large quantities of water from open water up to 3kms from the site.

“The Fire Service are satisfied that the Service and the landowner have sufficient mitigation in place to make an incident at the tyre pile manageable.”

NNDC said: “Colleagues from the Fire and Rescue service have risk assessed the site and fire breaks have been implemented across the site.”

The EA said: “We are aware of the tyre site in Tattersett and have been in touch with the site owner about fire safety during the recent hot weather.”

“We have also worked with several agencies, including the emergency services, to ensure we are prepared to deal with any incident at this site.”


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