Trade and recycling of used tyres in Western and Eastern Europe

Truck tyres can cause significant environmental pressure through the life c ycle. The main aim of this paper is investigate to what extent internationa l policy measures on foreign trade, international recycling and harmonisati on of legislation can contribute in effectively reducing environmental pres sure caused in the truck tyre life cycle. A two-region simulation model, re presenting Western and Eastern Europe, is developed that integrates the com plete life cycle, incorporates environmental impacts in its economic analys is, is technically dynamic by accounting for learning-by-doing effects; and allows for variations in trade of new and old truck tyres. In this study t he economic, environmental and social effectiveness of harmonisation and tr ade measures in the European life cycle for truck tyre is tested. Several c onclusions can be drawn from the model simulations. First, the environmenta l effects caused by the trade of used tyres from Western to Eastern Europe are of limited impact on the overall environmental damage caused by truck t yres. The consumption stage is by far the main contributor to environmental damage. Within the marginal analysis of trade, harmonisation of disposal f ees illustrated to generate very limited positive results. The private and external costs in the solid waste management (SWM) stage are too limited to have a notable impact on the overall configuration of the European tyre li fe cycle. The introduction of strict laws on tread depth in Eastern Europe has a much stronger impact on material flows than the harmonisation scenari o. This suggests that domestic policy measures should be the primarily focu s on interventions in this stage of the life cycle, for instance, by improv ing the management of tyre pressure. Because trade of used tyres has little impact on the consumption stage, this issue should not get priority in Eur opean environmental programs. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights res erved.