Tassie Govt put spotlight on tyres

Tyre stockpiles to be regulated by the EPA in future

The Hodgman Government is addressing the management of waste tyres from cars, trucks and tractors with new regulations that recently came into effect.

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 in northern Tasmania

The new regulations that came into effect on November 8, 2017 mean that any proposal to store more than 100 tonnes of waste tyres will be an activity assessed by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) Board and regulated by the Director of the EPA.

This means that the environmental impacts of proposed tyre stockpiles will now be comprehensively assessed before approval will be granted, including consideration of how the tyres will be processed or recycled.

In a statement released this week, Minister for Environment and Parks, Elise Archer said: “Addressing the regulation of waste tyres was included in our Deliverables 2017 agenda and I am very pleased we are delivering for the Tasmanian community.

“It’s just one of the ways we are working at a number of levels to address other issues around waste tyre management,” Ms Archer said.

“This includes ongoing work with Australian, state and territory governments, the tyre industry, and Tyre Stewardship Australia to assist in the rollout of a national product stewardship scheme for waste tyres,” she added.

Tassie Govt put spotlight on tyres

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