Australian Tyre Recyclers Association (ATRA) reports about the decision of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) to ban the exports of various waste products, including scrap tires. COAG has introduced a timetable to make the ban effective; the initiative was supported and welcomed by ATRA.

“There are two distinct streams of used tyre exports, one is sustainable, the other clearly is not and a timetable to ban the export of whole baled tyres from Australia is welcomed”, said Robert Kelman, Executive Officer at ATRA.

He adds that bales of whole tires, according to ATRA’s knowledge, are either burnt in the open or in highly polluting tire pyrolysis operations in India and Malaysia with poor outcomes for human health and the environment. Kelman asserts Australia should not be dumping this waste product on developing countries, but instead it must process its own material including tires before export and develop its own reprocessing industry. This will require increased levels of domestic procurement of tire derived products such as more widespread use of crumb rubber in asphalt as well as tire derived fuels both domestically and internationally to replace coal and save on greenhouse gas emissions.

ATRA looks forward to working with federal and state governments on the timetable and the definitions of these unsustainable used tire exports. Accordingly, ATRA calls on Environment Ministers to set an aggressive timetable to protect the legitimate tire recycling industry in Australia to promote investment and jobs by banning the export of whole tires.

Article by ATRA.