A scheme designed to deal with the problem of disposing more than 25m used tyres in the UK each year has been unveiled.

The Responsible Recycler Group will have a network made up of used tyre collectors such as TCS and REG (UK), retailers like Stapletons, Hi-Q and Kwik-Fit, and tyre manufacturers such as Continental.

The bulk of the used tyres will be incinerated in cement kilns used for electricity generation or crumbed for other uses.

Anne Evans, scheme co-ordinator for TCS, said: "This scheme doesn't add a significant amount of money to that paid by the retailer or the customer. What it does is allow the retailer to recover the cost of disposal, being able to say 'look, we are doing it the right way' and by being able to demonstrate that to the customer."

A full presentation to the industry will be made at the European Automotive Trade Show at the Birmingham NEC in April.