The initiative will see garages across West Mercia being given a kit to mark tyres scheduled for disposal, using an invisible but forensically traceable liquid.

Tagging tyres will allow councils to easily trace any that are flytipped back to the garage responsible for disposing of them, and help prevent garages from being targeted by organised criminals to illegally dispose of tyres.

Across West Mercia 10,000 incidents of flytipping were reported in 2021, an increase of 6% on 2020.

West Mercia Police demonstrate Smartwater tyre tagging

Sergeant Marvin Choudhury, from West Mercia Police’s Problem Solving Support Team, said:-

“Illegal flytipping is an issue across the force area, and by working with our partners at Smartwater and with councils, 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 councils within these areas.”

The £10,000 funding for the initiative has been provided by the Police and Crime Commissioner.

John Campion, Police and Crime Commissioner for West Mercia, said:-

“Dumped tyres pose a significant environmental risk, encourage other flytipping activity, and is costly in a number of ways to the public.

“In response to community concerns, I am pleased to fund an initiative like this which encourage garages to act responsibly. It forms part of my investment of nearly £100,000 to combat flytipping across West Mercia.”

The scheme has also been backed by the Environment Agency, as illegally dumped tyres has a negative impact on the environment, as well as looking unpleasant.

Tania Tucker, Senior Adviser from the Environment Agency, said:-

“This tyre tagging scheme initiative is timely to see, as legitimate disposal costs of tyres have increased, leading to more occurrences of flytipped and illegally dumped tyres. Dumped tyres have significant environmental impacts, and the cost to clear them can be significant for landowners and local councils.

“Marking tyres with Smartwater, and making sure that they are collected by a registered waste carrier, will help garages and other businesses to make sure that their waste tyres are not illegally disposed of, and enable them to demonstrate that they are complying with their duty of care.”

If you see any illegal flytipping you should report it to the relevant council. To become part of the programme, please contact your local rural and business police officer via 101.

Issued by RJ, Corporate Communications, West Mercia Police