The Australian Tyre Recyclers Association (ATRA) has raised concerns regarding the interpretation of data published by Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA), emphasizing the need for a clear understanding of the figures and their implications.

“All recycling sectors have issues that need to be resolved,” said Robert Kelman, Executive Officer ATRA. “ATRA is supportive of resolving those issues within the used tyre recovery sector that require resolution, including; capturing free riders, banning landfill disposal, better capturing waste tracking data, enforcing the federal export ban on whole baled tyres, improved governance of the existing TSA and reducing the ongoing legal disposal in-pit of mining (OTR) tyres.

“It’s truly shocking we only recover 13% of the massive OTR market and bury the rest.”

Kelman pointed out that TSA’s revised data shows no change in the collection rate of used passenger, truck, and bus tyres, but highlights an unacceptable rise in the landfilling of some tyres during the period. ATRA has called for state-level bans on tyre landfilling to ensure these tyres are directed toward beneficial use. However, Kelman added that, “to lump this (unfortunately) legal disposal into the data as TSA has and suggest all these tyres are being ‘disbursed’ into the environment does not help in advancing the broader policy debate and resolving the issues that need to be resolved.”

Highlighting the effectiveness of Australia’s existing tyre recycling market, Kelman remarked, “Australia has a highly functional and well-capitalised free market for used tyre collection and recycling; at 98% collection there is no apparent ‘market failure’ that would warrant the Federal government intervening in the collection market. Let’s fix the things that need fixing. But the proposal from TSA to intervene in the market, creating a full command and control EPR scheme, setting the prices and the geographies recyclers can operate in, as they do in British Columbia and Italy, would appear to be an overreach.”

Source: Inside Waste.