Tyre Waste EPR in India: Registration, Targets, and Compliance Essentials

Tyre waste EPR in India has moved from a paper compliance exercise to a serious business risk in 2026. If your company manufactures, imports, or brand-labels tyres — or imports vehicles fitted with new tyres — the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) now expects a valid EPR registration, quarterly filings, and a documented trail of EPR certificates purchased from registered recyclers. The 30 September 2026 registration deadline is only two weeks away, and customs are already flagging shipments without a valid CPCB number.

This guide walks you through what tyre waste EPR is, who it applies to, the annual targets, how registration works, and the mistakes that are quietly costing producers lakhs in penalties.

The Rules Behind Tyre Waste EPR

Tyre waste in India is regulated under Schedule IX of the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Amendment Rules, 2022, notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and effective from 21 July 2022. The framework replaces the older, largely unregulated informal tyre-recycling chain with a producer-pays model built around EPR certificates traded on the CPCB portal.The rules cover the full life cycle: manufacture, sale, transfer, purchase, collection, storage, and processing of tyres and waste tyres. Every entity that puts a tyre on the Indian market — and every recycler and retreader that handles it at end of life — is inside the net.

Who Is a 'Producer' Under the Rules?

The definition of Producer is deliberately broad, and this is where most first-time filers get caught out. You are a Producer if you:

Manufacture and sell new tyres domestically.

Sell new tyres manufactured by others under your own brand name.

Import new tyres for sale in India.

Import vehicles fitted with new tyres — this includes automotive OEMs importing CBU vehicles.

Import waste tyres for processing.

If any of these apply, CPCB registration is mandatory. There is no turnover threshold and no small-business exemption. Recyclers and retreaders register separately, under their own categories on the same portal.

Annual Recycling Targets: What You Owe

EPR obligations are calculated on the quantity of tyres you manufactured or imported in the base year, adjusted forward. India now operates on a 100% recycling target — every tonne you put on the market must be matched by an equivalent tonne of EPR certificates purchased from CPCB-registered recyclers.

The obligation is expressed in metric tonnes, tracked on the Waste Tyre EPR portal at eprtyres.cpcb.gov.in, and reconciled annually. Under-fulfilment carries an environmental compensation charge, and the shortfall carries forward with penalties. There is no way to net off surplus certificates from a competitor outside the portal — every transaction must be logged there.

How EPR Certificates Are Generated

Registered recyclers earn EPR certificates in proportion to the quantity of waste tyres they process into approved end-uses: crumb rubber, reclaimed rubber, pyrolysis oil, carbon black, or char meeting CPCB specifications. Retreading does not generate EPR certificates — retreaders operate under a separate authorisation. Producers buy these certificates directly from recyclers on the portal, at a market-determined price that has been volatile through 2025 and 2026.

Step-by-Step: Registering on the CPCB Portal

Registration on eprtyres.cpcb.gov.in is a one-time exercise, valid for two years. The sequence:

Create a user account with your PAN, GSTIN, and authorised signatory details.
Select your entity category — Producer, Recycler, or Retreader — and complete the KYC block.

Upload the CIN, factory/import licence, and prior three years of tyre production or import data.

Declare your projected annual EPR obligation (metric tonnes).

Pay the applicable processing fee and submit for CPCB review.

CPCB typically issues the registration certificate within 30–45 days if the file is clean. Common causes of rejection are mismatched GSTIN details, missing HS code declarations for imported tyres, and undeclared subsidiary units. Registration is valid for two years — renew at least 60 days before expiry.

Quarterly and Annual Returns: Do Not Miss These

Once registered, producers file quarterly returns declaring tyres placed on the market and EPR certificates purchased against those quantities. The annual return, due by 30 June each year for the preceding financial year, is the reconciliation document CPCB uses to compute compliance status.

Late filing attracts an automatic show-cause notice. Consistent late or zero-filing triggers a compliance audit and, in serious cases, suspension of the registration — which in turn stops customs from clearing tyre imports under your IEC.

Penalties and Business Risk

Non-compliance under Section 15 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 attracts fines that can run into several lakhs per contravention, and continuing default is treated as a separate offence for each day of non-compliance. In practice, the sharper commercial risk is at the port: CBIC has begun linking CPCB EPR registration to bill-of-entry clearance for tyre HS codes and vehicles-with-tyres imports, so shipments without a valid registration number sit at bond until resolved. Demurrage on a single container run can dwarf the EPR certificate cost.

Common Pitfalls We See in Filings

Across the tyre producer files we review, a handful of recurring errors turn a routine filing into a return-for-rectification. Watch for these:

Reporting import quantities on invoice weight rather than tyre unit weight — CPCB reconciles against Customs data.

Assuming an EPR filing by the parent company covers subsidiaries — each legal entity registers separately.

Buying EPR certificates from an entity that is not on the CPCB registered-recycler list — those certificates are invalid.

Missing the OEM-imports-CBU-vehicles obligation on the assumption that the tyre supplier abroad has already paid.

Treating retreading procurement as EPR fulfilment — it is not.
What This Means for Your Business

If you are a tyre producer, importer, or automotive OEM and you have not registered on eprtyres.cpcb.gov.in yet, treat the 30 September 2026 date as a hard deadline — the cost of delay is measured in port demurrage and audit exposure, not just penalty notices. If you are already registered, use the next quarter to reconcile your certificate purchases against actual tonnage placed on the market and clear any shortfall before the June 2027 annual return.

Testa & Tegmen advises tyre producers, importers, and automotive OEMs on end-to-end EPR compliance — from CPCB registration and quarterly returns to certificate procurement strategy and audit defence. If you would like a compliance readiness review before the September deadline, get in touch.