THE
LONG
AND WINDING
ROAD
TO TYRE
STEWARD
SHIP
By Adele Rose, Chief Executive, 3R Group
A recent Tyre Industry
Summit, focusing on endof-life tyres, demonstrated
industry willingness to drive
positive change, and asks
government to come along for the ride.
10
The inaugural Tyre Industry Summit,
organised by 3R Group and
WasteMINZ had a lofty goal: to foster
ongoing and positive development
of end-of-life (ELT) outcomes in
New Zealand by knowledge sharing
between industry stakeholders and
international ELT programmes, and
championing best practice.
Sponsors Bridgestone, Goodyear
Dunlop, Motor Trade Association,
Tyreline and Tyre Collection Services
clearly indicated broad sector
support for progress.
DEMONSTRATING
WHAT IS POSSIBLE
Right from the opening address,
the theme of the Summit was
collaboration; to find common
ground to establish the platform
to improve ELT outcomes in New
Zealand.
International keynote speakers
talked participants through best
practise ELT management by
overseas stewardship programmes
that now achieve recycling rates
near 100 per cent. These are
programmes that represent the
same tyre brands that operate within
New Zealand, and use applicable
solutions that incorporate enduring
end-use markets.
MARKET FAILURE?
A succession of headlines in May
discussed an ELT stockpile that was
moved from Hamilton to a range
of alternative storage locations
pending the launch of a recycling
venture in Kawerau. A lack of
understanding of the planned
recycling process, coordination
between councils, and the absence
of a national storage and handling
policy were highlighted. These
articles raised questions as to what
happens to the millions of tyres
that reach their end of life in New
Zealand each year.
The reality is our management
of ELTs lags well behind other
developed countries. This is despite
a succession of government reports
on the issue since 2003, all of which
have recommended action be taken.
At last count, 30 per cent of
the ELT resource can be identified
as recycled; this means 70 per
cent (well over 40,000 tonnes per
year) are stockpiled, dumped, or
landfilled.
Michael Blumenthal, keynote
speaker from the USA, stated “It’s
about markets, markets, markets!”
One factor unanimously agreed
upon is that New Zealand has
insufficient investment in enduses for the collected resource. As
Minister for the Environment, Hon.
Dr Nick Smith, commented in his
March 2012 launch of the Tyrewise
project: “We need to find economic
ways in which these used tyres can
be put to better use.”
NO SINGLE SOLUTION
A range of end-uses for ELTs
presented at the Summit included
tyre-derived fuel for energy
production, processing to access
carbon and other base constituents
for use in steel manufacture,
manufacturing new products such
as roofing tiles or floor matting,
composite insulation material for
building products, and rubber in-fill
for artificial sports fields.
While opinions vary on each
end-use, it was agreed that the need
to keep options open is critical.
Overseas stewardship programmes
profiled have access to multiple
end-uses for ELTs, with flexibility to
adapt to market conditions such
as those driven by the price of
crude oil. This enables a market
where research and development is
strongly supported and funded by
the disposal fee. It also mitigates
stockpile risk should a particular
end-use become uneconomic.
JULY 2015 \ WWW.WASTEMINZ.ORG.NZ \
11
TYREWISE
In 2012 a mandated
industry working group
was tasked to develop
an ELT stewardship
solution that would be
industry led, government
supported and ‘launch
ready’. Tyrewise was
developed in late 2013,
and was ‘launch ready’
subject to supportive
regulation being passed.
The solution put
forward is a mandatory
stewardship approach
that is funded by an
advanced disposal fee (or
eco-fee) collected on all
tyres at point of import to
replace ad-hoc disposal
fees currently charged to
consumers at retail.
The funds would be
used to manage ELTs
within a network of
registered collection
points, transporters
and processors, and
to provide funding for
R&D and to support
development of enduring
regional end-use markets.
For more information see www.tyrewise.co.nz
CALL FOR
REGULATORY
SUPPORT
CHICKEN OR EGG?
The Ministry for the Environment’s
(MfE) position on whether ELTs
should be declared a priority waste
was presented to participants
by Director of Operations, Mike
Mendonça. He asserted that ELTs are
not on the Ministry’s work-plan for at
least the next 12 months, and that
“Right now, landfill is as safe a place
as any for ELTs in New Zealand”.
Many industry stakeholders have
invested considerable resource
to support Tyrewise and prepared
submissions on behalf of their
representative groups in response
to the initial public consultation on
priority waste streams by MfE in
2014. Believing that the process
toward priority product was still
progressing, this position was
received with considerable dismay.
A follow-up statement by an
unnamed Ministry spokesperson
in a newspaper article stated:
“Overseas experience is that any
model is dependent on enduring
markets for end-of-life tyres. These
markets are not yet mature in New
Zealand.” Does this mean that the
government will wait for markets to
develop before enabling regulation
to support an industry stewardship
approach, knowing that industry
won’t invest without regulation?
Overseas evidence shows that
conditions for enduring end-use
markets only become favourable
when a stewardship approach
is supported by regulation. This
provides a commercial environment
for investment in end-use markets.
New Zealand lacks a regulatory
framework for management of ELTs.
Contrary to the evidence tabled, the
government seems intent on playing
a waiting game without activating
critical regulatory levers to enable
stewardship.
Glenn Maidment, a 35 year
veteran in the industry, commented
“I would hope NZ wouldn’t
wait for a major tyre fire (like we
experienced in Canada) before you
take positive action. New Zealand
does have a scrap tyre problem,
but you have a reasonable plan and
you have consensus for solving the
problem. All you need now is a bit
of leadership from government. It
seems like an easy win-win situation
from where I sit”.
·· distribute the 2015 KPMG report
on “Waste Tyres Economic
Research” when released,
·· work with media to raise public
awareness and understanding
of the issues using fact-based
evidence and issue a Tyrewise
briefing document,
·· prepare a discussion document
on potential control options for
councils on a unified approach for
storage of ELTs including working
with the WasteMINZ Territorial
Authority Forum,
·· engage with local councillors,
MPs and other groups to raise
awareness and support.
Did we achieve the Summit’s
lofty goal? Yes, we believe
so. With 87 stakeholders
progressing discussions the
Summit has led to enhanced
understanding and a genuine
desire for improvement.
WHERE TO NOW?
At the end of the Summit 3R Group
agreed to facilitate the next steps:
·· write to Minister Smith for an
urgent meeting to clarify his
stance on ELTs and regulatory
levers,
3R Group's Chief Executive, Adele Rose, has over
10 years management experience and six years
directly related to the development of waste
solutions for economic and environmental benefit
across a range of industries.
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