Tasmanian tyre recycling plant under threat

An $8.5 million plant to process end-of-life car and truck tyres, proposed for the country town of Longford, Tasmania, will not proceed if the local council does not end its move to revoke Tyre Recycle Tasmania’s permit to store tyres on its site beyond March 2016.

The plant was to be built by Green Distillation Technologies (GDT), which had planned to start work on its Longford site this month and to have the tyre recycling facility operating in June 2016. But the Northern Midlands Council has since decreed that the temporary planning permit for the existing tyre dump of 1.3 million tyres — which was until December 2016 — will now be revoked in March 2016.

GDT CEO Craig Dunn said the move by the council will make the proposed plant unviable, as the combination of stockpile and annual regular volume is necessary to make the economics work. By the time Tyre Recycle Tasmania’s stockpile has been exhausted, it is anticipated that GDT will have extended the scope of its process to include mining and agricultural tyres, for which there is currently no solution.

“The council does not seem to understand that we are developing a world-first Australian technology that is complex to build and will take several years of production to provide a return on the investment,” he said.

Dunn noted that the proposed plant would handle 658,000 end-of-life tyres per annum — over 150,000 more than the 480,000 to 500,000 generated by Tasmania each year. He said, “GDT recycling of a typical end-of-life 10 kg car tyre will yield 4 kg of carbon, 1.5 kg of steel and 4 L of oil, while a 70 kg truck tyre will provide 28 kg of carbon, 11 kg of steel and 28 L of oil.

“The oil produced from the GDT process can be used as a heating fuel direct into some stationary diesel engines, or is capable of further refinement into automotive or aviation fuels, while the carbon is a high-grade product that can replace those sourced from fossil fuels and the steel is returned directly to tyre manufacturers for re-use.”

Dunn said GDT’s income would come from selling the oil, carbon and steel, plus a percentage of the recycling fee paid by the motorist to the tyre dealer when they purchase new tyres. The production process is entirely emission-free and uses the recycled oil as its heat source.

Tyre Recycle Tasmania’s Tim Chugg, who currently holds the temporary licence, has meanwhile asked how he is supposed to clear the site of 1.3 million tyres.

“This entire situation has not been thought through, and I only hope some wise heads prevail to come up with a solution before we reach a locked in stalemate position,” Chugg said.

“I am sure that is the wish of every Tasmanian who will want to see a solution found for the disposal of end-of-life tyres, which are a major environmental problem.”