Waste tyres are a problematic waste stream. While figures provided vary, it is estimated that 10.9 million waste tyres enter the waste stream per annum (about 300 000 tonnes), with an estimated 900 000 tonnes stockpiled. An estimated 93 400 tonnes of tyres were collected for processing in 2021 (about 31% of waste tyres generated), with 22 700 tonnes of collected tyres processed (about 8% of waste tyres generated per annum). The growing volume of tyres and the stockpile are both a financially and environmentally unsustainable situation.
This report aims to:
- Clarify the specific opportunities for supporting new industrial-scale market opportunities for waste tyre products.
- Assess how to enhance existing markets and remove barriers that hinder market expansion and cause market instability, including determining options for approaching both the demand and supply side for waste tyre-derived product, and the market and regulatory conditions needed to maximise the diversion of waste tyres from landfills.
The research findings are to inform the provision of guidance on and recommendations for:
- The alignment of industrial and environmental policies to foster sustainable management (including the production of goods) from waste tyres; and
- A ministerial stockpile abatement plan, e.g., how the private sector and government can deal with the pre- and post-2012/2013 stockpile.