Dutch legislation on end-of-life-tyres (Besluit beheer autobanden)

Legal basis of RecyBEM

Since the Nineties the environment, and in particular the waste management of car tyres, has been high on the Dutch political agenda. The Dutch government wanted to prevent landfill of tyres or tyres lying around in the environment. The Dutch legislation on end of life tyres offers the solution to this problem.

Besluit verwijdering personenwagenbanden (1995 - 2004) (Decree on removal of cartyres)

In response to the environmental problem posed by used tyres, the government introduced the first Dutch legislation on end of life tyres (Besluit verwijdering personenwagenbanden) in 1995. This legislation assigns the responsibility to the producers (tyre manufacturers and importers) to organize the management chain of end of life tyres.

Besluit beheer autobanden (since 2004) (Legislation on End-of-Life-Tyres)

In order to further intensify these responsibilities, the Ministry of Environment (than ministerie van Volksgezondheid, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieu (VROM)) replaced this legislation in 2004 with the current legislation on end of life tyres (Besluit beheer autobanden). The goal of this decree, which is based on the Environment Management Act (Wet Milieubeheer), is to collect and process used tyres in an environmentally-friendly way. Responsibility for this rests with the producers of car tyres and the manufacturers and importers of caravans and trailers. The decree applies to private vehicle tyres from vehicles such as private cars and light commercial vehicles (maximum 3500 kilos), trailers and caravans. Other tyres such as truck tyres, motorcycle tyres and tyres from car wrecks are not covered by the decree. For each new tyre which they bring into the Dutch market, producers are required to collect an end of life tyre and re-use or recycle it in an environmentally friendly way. Under the terms of this legislation, at least twenty percent of the collected tyres must be re-used and destined for material re-use. RecyBEM has intensified this requirement and set out contractually that certified collection companies must destine at least ninety percent of the tyres collected for material and/or product re-use, whereby at least fifty percent of all tyres collected must be processed by RecyBEM-certified recyclers

Producer responsibility

Producers (producers and importers) of car tyres and producers and importers of caravans and trailers have been given several responsibilities due to the legislation on End-of-Life-Tyres. They have to:

• Collect the same amount of used tyres at retailers such as garages and tyre specialists as they sell into the Dutch market (“swapping old for new”);
• Collect used car tyres at municipal depots;
• Ensure that the waste tyres are recovered. According to the legislation at least 20% of the weight of the collected tyres should to be reused as a material. RecyBEM has intensified this requirement and set out contractually that certified collection companies must destine at least ninety percent of the tyres collected for material and/or product re-use, whereby at least fifty percent of all tyres collected must be processed by RecyBEM-certified recyclers.
• Report their business at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment. Annually before the first of August producers have to send a written report to the Ministry of Infrastructure on the number of collected tyres in the past year.

For the members of the Vereniging Band en Milieu these obligations are adopted by the ELT-management company RecyBEM and performed by RecyBEM-certified collectors and recyclers.

Click here to become a member of the Vereniging Band en Milieu.

ETRTO list is the list applicable to definition of car tyres

The definition of passenger car tyres used in the Dutch legislation is in accordance with the list of The European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation (ETRTO). The Decree covers passenger car tyres from vehicles, such as passenger cars and light commercial vehicles with a maximum weight of 3,500 kg. The categories of tyres which fall within the definition are:

• ETRTO Passenger Car Tyres (= car tyres)
• ETRTO Commercial Vehicles - Trucks Lite (= light vans)

More information is available at www.etrto.org.

The complete Dutch text of the Decree can be found on wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0016038