Tyrewise : Keeping millions of tyres from landfill

Every year, around 6.5 million tyres reach the end of their lives in New Zealand and most get taken to landfills or illegally dumped.

That's now set to change with the launch of New Zealand's first tyre-recycling scheme - Tyrewise.

Big pile of automobile tires on the broken-down plant. Many black rubber tyres on the ground inside the old huge empty building. (PHOTO: From Tyrewise.co.nz)

Tyres dumped on the roadside (PHOTO: From Tyrewise.co.nz)

Rack with variety of new car tires in automobile store, selective focus (PHOTO: From Tyrewise.co.nz)

Adele Rose from 3R and Hayden Smith from Smith Sea Clearners with illegally dumped tyres collected from the sea and the coast (PHOTO: From Tyrewise.co.nz)

The government is contributing $1.2 million to Tyrewise, which will be run by the non-profit group Auto Stewardship NZ (ASNZ) and operational from 2023. 

Tyre collectors, manufacturers, car companies and motor industry associations are working together to make the scheme as effective as possible, says ASNZ chair Mark Gilbert.

"Everybody that had an interest in a tyre was sitting around the table and helping to shape and create this Tyrewise project," he tells Kathryn Ryan.

 "Anything with automotive attached to it is in my DNA" - Mark Gilbert. Photo: TIGERTIGER Photography

Currently, New Zealand's tyre waste disposal systems are "really immature and not structured property", Gilbert says, and it's taken around 19 years to "get all the ducks lined up" for the launch of Tyrewise.

One discrepancy is the cost of getting rid of a used tyre, which varies depending on where you are in the country.

"Every location you go to probably has a different fee for putting vehicles [and tyres] into their landfill or recycling, whatever it might be. Fees are being charged to people getting rid of tyres now but it's not uniform."

To create a tyre system that's more sustainable and consistent, they first have to better understand the depth and width of the problem, he says.

Under the Tyrewise plan, each tyre coming into New Zealand will incur a fee to be collected by Customs and added to a fund used to establish innovative new uses for end-of-life tyres.

Some tyres will be supplied to innovative companies that are already using recycled rubber, such as Golden Bay Cement, Gilbert says, but ASNZ is interested in other opportunities, too.

Adding rubber to New Zealand roads is one, he says, but due to our current transport agency contracts, that's at least seven years away.

"There's probably a hell of a lot more that could be done with [rubber from tyres] and once we get the money in and we're able to look at different opportunities."

Read / Listen - 'Think of a tyre that's pulled out of a swamp and made into a high-end, high-value product. That's where New Zealand needs to be.” (The Detail)

Read / Listen - 'Why are waste tyres not regulated? (Nine to Noon)