Tasmanian tyre recycling plant fighting for approval

Green Distillation Technologies (GDT), the would-be developer of an $8.5 million tyre recycling plant in Longford, Tasmania, says it is determined to proceed with plans despite delays in securing government approvals.

GDT’s technology recycles end-of-life car and truck tyres into oil, carbon and steel. A typical 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 provides 28 kg of carbon, 11 kg of steel and 28 L of oil.

GDT had initially planned to start work on the Longford site in November last year, but the project was threatened when the local council said it would revoke Tyre Recycle Tasmania’s permit to stockpile tyres in March 2016.

Three months later, GDT Chief Operating Officer Trevor Bayley has applied for Development Approval for the plant but is still yet to secure an OK from the Environmental Protection Authority. He estimates that it will take six months for the plant to become operational from the time GDT receives government approval to proceed.

“From my discussions, I believe that the government is aware that they have a responsibility to fix the problem of tyre recycling in Tasmania and that the first step should be to put it on a sound financial footing,” said Bayley.

“Clearly the Longford site, where there are an estimated 900,000 tyres waiting for processing, is a priority, although of course this stockpile is being added to by the 480,000–500,000 end-of-life car and truck tyres that Tasmania generates each year. We estimate that it will take three years to get rid of the existing stockpile.

“The obvious place to start with generating funds to pay for tyre recycling is with the fee paid by each motorist when they dispose of their old tyres and get a new one fitted. This amount varies with different retailers across the state, but could be as high as $8 to $9 and, of this, a fixed amount of $2.50 is paid for collection and storage, but not for end-of-life management.”

Bayley said GDT’s plant in Warren, NSW, is going through the commissioning stage after operating as a test facility since 2009 and is now producing its first commercial quantities of oil, carbon and steel from old car and truck tyres. The upgrade to full production makes the plant capable of processing 19,000 tonnes, or a mix of 658,000 car and truck tyres per year.

“The reason we have been attracted to Tasmania is entirely due to the work of Tim Chugg of Tyre Recycle Tasmania, who has been to our plant at Warren and seen for himself how it works and came away enthusiastic to establish a plant in Tasmania,” Bayley noted.

“By the time Tyre Recycle Tasmania’s stockpile has been recycled, it is anticipated that we will have extended the scope of our operations to include mining and agricultural tyres, for which there is currently no solution.”