Malta exported 17,567 tons of used tyres to India in the past six years, information given in parliament on Wednesday showed.
The tyres were exported by Wastserv between 2013 and this year, Environment minister Jose’ Herrera told Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi.
Malta started exporting used tyres in 2003 when a consignment of rubber was shredded and sent to the UK to be used as underlying layers for a horse race track.
In 2007 a local company was awarded a contract to recycle tyres. It had said it intended to use the rubber to make bollards, pavement edges and non-slip surfaces for internal yards.