1 Introduction
1.1 Background
New Zealand currently generates approximately 4 million end-of-life tyres per annum, which equates to approximately 36,000 tonnes of waste. These tyres are currently landfilled, stockpiled or used as silage cover in the agricultural industry. The Sustainable Industry Group of the Ministry for the Environment is working with councils, the tyre industry and other stakeholders to ensure a sustainable management regime for end-of-life tyres.
Ministry for the Environment (the Ministry) would ultimately like to see a high proportion of tyres recycled or utilised as an energy source. It is not yet clear when or if demand for tyres will increase to the point where they are sought after by recyclers. In the short to medium term, the Ministry seeks to encourage environmentally appropriate management of end-of-life tyres.
Appropriate management may include use for engineering purposes, storage or final disposal of end-of-life tyres in specially created monofills, or above ground storage where land owners bank on an eventual increase in the economic value of end-of-life tyres. Factors to be addressed in developing appropriate management practices include the following:
- any leachate associated with engineering activities may need to be managed
- storage and disposal facilities need be designed to ensure that environmental risks such as fire and leachate generation are eliminated or managed
- the design of storage facilities and monofills should also ensure that the potential for deterioration is minimised and that the tyres can be retrieved relatively easily when, and, or if their value as a recoverable resource increases
- storage facilities may need to be covered by bonds or other financial risk management tools, in case the value of tyres does not increase and funds need to be available to cover final disposal.
As an input to its work, the Ministry requires information on international research and on current best practice with regard to in-ground and above ground storage and disposal, and its application to New Zealand. The project brief for this investigation is given in Appendix B.
1.2 Scope
The Ministry is seeking short- to medium-term solutions for the management of end-of-life tyres. In particular, the Ministry is facilitating an investigation into best practice for the in-ground or above ground storage of end-of-life tyres.
This report records the review work undertaken by MWH, which includes:
- reviewing relevant literature on end-of-life tyres and their management
- assessing in-ground and above ground management solutions in the context of relevant New Zealand legislation and Ministry for the Environment guidelines
- identifying best practice in relation to in-ground and above ground tyre storage.
