ELTs meeting called for

The Tyrewise Working Group has called for a meeting with Environment Minister Nick Smith and the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) on the way forward for a product stewardship scheme for end-of-life tyres (ELTs). With so much support for national regulation – and the industry doing most of the leg work itself – nobody can understand why Smith has had such a turnabout in his support for the self-funding scheme. The news that ELTs will not be afforded priority product status under the Waste Minimisation Act was announced at the inaugural Tyre Industry Summit in Auckland in early June. Adele Rose, chief executive of the 3R Group, says the industry wants to understand the reasons for the government’s change in focus. Howvere, Rose adds the summit did move ELT issues forward. For a full report about the summit, click here to read the June 18 issue of Autofile magazine online.

Government’s views on ELTs

The news the MfE is not giving tyres priority status was delivered by Mike Mendonça, director of operations, at the 2015 Tyre Industry Summit. Below is an edited version of his address to delegates: “When it comes to the environment, tyres are everywhere. It is no easy task trying to balance the environmental and economical stages. “Climate change is something we are focused on. It’s not our top priority, but it’s in our top three. The problem is New Zealand is only responsible for about one per cent of the world’s emissions, so in terms of what we do there is an argument we’ll make little difference. Something like 25 countries are responsible for one per cent. “Half of our emissions come from agriculture. We make jokes about fart taxes and those sorts of things, and cows do lead to emissions, but we’re in the business of making food. As it stands, there’s not a lot we can do about that other than killing cows. But if we kill cows all that’s going to happen is we’re probably going to shift production to another part of the world. “Road transport is responsible for about 20 per cent of New Zealand's emissions and there’s a lot of noise at the moment about the switch to electric vehicles. Something we are focussed on is the future of our fleet and how we’re going to deal with that over the next 30 or 50 years. “The waste sector is responsible for about six per cent of New Zealand’s emissions. By and large, landfills are well-run, and good at catching that gas and turning it into electricity. “Air is the area we don’t have good data on. With respect to tyres, obvious issues are risk of fires, stockpiles of vermin and air quality. To be honest with regard to fires, it seems the risk really is not so much spontaneous combustion. Tyres really can’t do that. It’s arson we are talking about. “Our sea is full of all sorts of treasures, which haven’t been explored yet. The big thing for the motor-vehicle industry we do is drill for oil. About 10 per cent of people say ‘over my dead body will we drill for oil’, another 10 per cent of people say ‘drill, baby drill’ and the majority of Kiwis say ‘yeah, you can do it without stuffing up’. “Leaching is often touted as the big issue for tyres and our waterways. There’s not a lot of evidence to support that. Most of our tyres end up in the land domain and, unlike the other domains, they tend not to be owned by anybody although iwi would prefer it another way. “But all land is owned by somebody, so any tie-in with land cuts across ownership rights and it’s difficult to deal with stuff when you have got that kind of overarching issue. “There are more than 47 official landfills in New Zealand. The issue we have with them is we think only 30 per cent of waste actually goes into them.Of that 70 per cent that doesn’t go into landfills. Some is nasty stuff we are concerned about. “We often overstate the impact of tyres when there are often anecdotes about tyres floating in landfills. But if you chop or chew them up, they don’t. Yes, tyres can be a problem in landfills, but not a significant problem. “Most of those landfills accept about 2.5 million tonnes of waste and about seven million tonnes does not go into landfills. In terms of tyres,it’s about 60,000 or 70,000 tonnes, but in terms of a percentage – and I’m not saying we have a problem with tyres – less than one per cent of our waste is actually tyres. “Tyres in New Zealand are probably as safe in a landfill as they are anywhere else. But I want to acknowledge this industry is keen for regulation. It has made that clear to the government over the past few years and discussed that with the previous minister. “Also, we did consult last year on more priority products and whether or not we should put those in place. The feedback was overwhelmingly supportive, but there was some qualification about making sure it was economically sustainable. “As a result, we have been asked by Cabinet to do economic analysis led by KPMG.Iguess one of the key things for tyres and all waste streams is a focus on end markets and disposal rather than processing. “The KPMG report analysed three options. The first one is managed product stewardship, which is regulation. The second is an enhanced status quo with a bit more regulation. The third is a halfway house where you have little regulation and rules. “There isn’t much difference economically between the three. In terms of benefits, the numbers are $15 million for the status quo, $14m for the enhanced version and $16m for managed product stewardship. There isn’t a clear case for any of them, but to be fair managed product stewardship does come out front by a lot. “I acknowledge progress is slow for regulating this industry. The reality is we don’t have regulation of the tyre sector on our work programme for the next 12 months, so it’s not something we are looking at. That’s not to say it’s not going to happen.”

Under the spotlight

During a question-and-answer session at the tyre summit, Mendonça had this to say: “I can tell you the minister has not rejected anything.The way we work is we have a 12-month programme around regulation and legislation.At the moment, all of our time is booked for the RMA and Auckland’s housing issues. It’s not the minister doesn’t want to do it, it’s we don’t have the capacity to at the moment. “One of the problems in New Zealand is landfill space is cheap, which means it is difficult for us to invest in things other than landfills. I just want to acknowledge all of the frustration. I see this as a blip.” For a full report about the 2015 Tyre Industry Summit held in Auckland on June 2-3, click here for the June 18 issue of Autofile magazine online.