New state regulations for the management of waste tyres have been welcomed by stakeholders, who say tyre stockpiles could pose a risk to human life during bushfire season.
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Since November 8, regulations have been in place to ensure that any proposal to stockpile more than 100 tonnes of waste tyres will be assessed by the Environment Protection Authority and regulated by director Wes Ford.
Approval of such proposals will now be at the EPA’s discretion.
Environment Minister Elise Archer said assessments of how tyres will be processed and recycled will be undertaken through this process.
“The storage of waste tyres has been a long-standing concern within the community due to the potential for social, economic and environmental impacts that tyre stockpiles can have, as seen in 2012 after a fire at a tyre stockpile at Longford,” she said.
“We know that waste tyres are a legacy issue in Tasmania.
“So it’s very pleasing to see that this regulation has come through.”
Ms Archer said waste tyre stockpiles could become “breeding grounds” for pests and could impact on water quality.
Jim Fairweather, the chief executive of national tyre recycler Tyrecycle, said a fire at the 10,000 tonne Longford tyre stockpile would release “somewhere in the order of 870 litres of pyrolytic oil” for every tonne.
“The amount of water that’s required to put those fires out, means that all of that leaches into the water table in the earth and so it’s not only the devastating effect on land and fauna and flora and obviously people,” Mr Fairweather said.
“The risk to human life is great.”
Mr Fairweather said “commercial gain” was the reason people chose to stockpile tyres rather than recycle them, given the cost of recycling waste tyres and the fee retailers pay to have their tyres collected.
He did not know a solution to this problem, but suggested “conscience” should stop people from stockpiling.
Northern Midlands Mayor David Downie said he welcomed the new regulations but stressed that the state government needed to be more “hands on” in terms of finding a solution to the issue around disposal of end-of-life tyres.
“It is an issue of state significance,” Alderman Downie said.
Tyre Recycle Tasmania operates the Longford stockpile but company director Tim Chugg said he did not wish to comment on the matter at this stage.