Kwik-Fit Fleet has opened a £10 million national distribution centre in Northamptonshire, which will see a vast increase in recycling.

The newly opened centre in Corby is the size of 10 football pitches.

A fleet of 69 trucks delivers tyres to centres daily and then returns to the new centre reloaded with worn out tyres, removed tyre casings and scrap catalytic converters.

Kwik-Fit said the move will save up to three million miles a year and around 3,000 tonnes of carbon in reduced emissions.

The 670-site network will no longer store used tyre casings thanks to the new initiative.

It also means specialist tyre waste collectors will collect from the distribution centre rather than calling at individual Kwik-Fit outlets.

Once back at the centre, a machine will shred more than six million tyres a year, before the rubber is re-used, in such processes as artificial sports surfaces and as a fuel in the cement industry.