Critics of the grant programs launched by New Zealand authorities over the decade expressed their opinion that the funded measures failed to achieve outstanding results and was moving not fast enough.

Some $20 million have been provided earlier to fight scrap tire issue in the state by the Government's Waste Minimisation Fund. However, tire clearance efforts are taking place too slow. The new group Accountability Action responsible for clearance of North Canterbury stockpile has also been accused of lack of progress.

To solve the problem of waste tires, Tyrewise was launched almost a decade ago. That’s the organization that later suggested introducing a stewardship program to the environmental authorities. According to the proposal, it was important to prevent tire dumps and stockpiles by adding the cost of their disposal into the price of a new tire unit.

The Ministry for the Environment allocated over $700,000 in funds to Tyrewise before 2015. In addition, three more initiatives received similar investment. However, companies that were in charge of pyrolysis plant development and were advancing recycling projects had been liquidated.

The New Zealand authorities also paid $100,000 to KPMG ordering analysis of the economic pitfalls that may hamper tire recycling. The research established that three crucial barriers existed. They listed lack of funding and scale, and absence of wide market for recycled tire products.

To tackle the challenges, the Waste Minimisation Fund granted over $18 million to initiatives that would be able to fight these problems. As a result, the biggest share (over $13 million) were provided to Fletcher Concrete and Infrastructure Ltd. And $3.85m were received by a state collector Waste Management New Zealand. Group Ltd's Tyrewise initiative received the smaller grant for its efforts to study mandatory product stewardship.

Article by Stuff.