1 Introduction
1.1 Background
URS New Zealand has been contracted by the Ministry for the Environment to work with the tyre sector to carry out an end-of-life (EoL) tyre product stewardship study.
This study is expected to assist policy development in regards to product stewardship. It follows from the release of the "Product Stewardship and Water Efficiency Labelling" discussion document by the Ministry for the Environment in July 2005. This document looked at ways of improving the uptake, effectiveness and stability of existing and future schemes. In particular, it proposed that light-handed legislation is introduced to back-up voluntary arrangements. A number of specific case studies have been commissioned to examine the application of product stewardship to those products. These include cell phones, paints, whiteware, agrichemical containers and tyres.
In New Zealand, product stewardship is defined [Ministry for the Environment. 2005. Product Stewardship and Water Efficiency Labelling Discussion Document.] as "an approach whereby producers, importers, brand owners, retailers, customers and other parties involved in the life cycle of a product accept a responsibility for the environmental impacts of a product through its life cycle". This report will only investigate minimising the disposal impacts in the tyre life cycle.
To date there has been a significant amount of research into EoL tyres in New Zealand and this has been quoted throughout this report. The Ministry for the Environment has been focusing on three related areas of work related to EoL tyres (for more information please refer to the Ministry for the Environment website, www.mfe.govt.nz). These are:
- supporting the establishment of a voluntary collection system for tyres, TyreTrack, which began operating on 1 July 2004;
- developing a package of information for councils on tyre storage management and enforcement options;
- actively encouraging tyre recycling and the recovery of energy from tyres.
1.2 Objectives of the study
The key objective of this study is to review the present TyreTrack scheme and to understand what assistance a more formal product stewardship policy could have on the management of EoL tyres in New Zealand. The specific Terms of Reference are to evaluate:
- the extent to which TyreTrack presently meets its objectives and likelihood of it further developing under current arrangements;
- the economic and environmental impacts of the present regime and the extent to which these would change if management continues in the same manner;
- the strengths and weaknesses of the present arrangements, including risk factors and consistency with product stewardship policy;
- recommended improvements for managing EoL tyres within the current policy environment and a potential new policy environment;
- evaluate the proposed policy in regards to its effects on EoL tyres.
This review links back to the more general contract objective to "road test" existing product stewardship schemes in New Zealand. That is to identify what is, and what isn't, working and the interaction of the proposed policy with these schemes as a means to inform policy decisions.
1.3 Study scope, previous investigations and our overall approach
The relationship between the potential application of a fully fledged set of product stewardship initiatives and the scope of this study is described diagrammatically in Figure 1.1. A distinction is made between the components of the tyre life cycle that occur in New Zealand and overseas. Some of the product stewardship initiatives which could apply to the New Zealand phases of the tyre life cycle are therefore:
- manufacturers in New Zealand incorporating "Design for Environment" features into tyres - for example, minimising hazardous components, easier disassembly or extending lifespan;
- importers of both new and used tyres and vehicles including environmental considerations into import choices - that is tyre and car (to the extent that these relate to the tyres) brands that reflect superior environmental credentials and durability/lifespan;
- tyre retailers ensuring that the EoL tyres are reused by selling them to economically viable reuse operators;
- consumers being educated to select tyres from companies taking an environmentally responsible approach to tyre importing, manufacture and reuse.
At its broadest level this study focuses on the disposal phase of the tyre life cycle only - that is, government support to encourage responsible disposal and potential reuse options. At a specific level the study evaluates TyreTrack as a tool to achieve better information on tyre disposal - which is a useful precursor to more responsible end-uses.
Tyre reuse and disposal in New Zealand is a broad and complex issue with many different stakeholders (importers, manufacturers, retailers, collectors, landfill operators, potential end-users, central government and local government). In addition, there has been a significant amount of previous work, both in Australia and New Zealand to try and resolve the fundamental issue which is "what to do with the large volumes of EoL tyres generated each year?" Particularly relevant studies referenced throughout this report include:
- MWH 2004 - End-of-life Tyre Management - Storage Options;
- Firecone 2004 - Management of End-of-life Tyres;
- Ministry for the Environment 2004 - Enforcement Action under the resource Management Act 1991 to Deal with Unauthorised Storage, Dumping and Disposal of End-of-life Tyres;
- URS Australia 2005 - Financial and Economic Analysis of the Proposed National Used Tyre Product Stewardship Scheme;
- Atech Group 2001 - A National Approach to Waste Tyres in Australia.
Figure 1-1: Relationship between entire tyre life cycle product stewardship potential and this study
View image at full size (with text description).
Our approach has been to interview as many stakeholders as possible, hold multi-stakeholder meetings, review previous work and overseas practices and use this information to:
- describe the tyre sector in New Zealand including existing social and environmental issues (Sections 2.0 and 3.0);
- provide background information on potential tyre reuse options and barriers to these (Section 4.0);
- evaluate TyreTrack with respect to its original objectives, existing stated government policy objectives and its potential to achieve more (Section 5.0);
- briefly overview international practices (Section 6.0);
- evaluate three broad policy options (against stated government policy objectives plus additional socio-economic and business criteria) (Section 7.0).
On the basis of the two separate evaluations (TyreTrack and broader policy options), we have developed a set of recommendations (Section 8.0). We have attempted to further analyse these recommendations in detail including the need, in some areas, for further research and analysis.
A detailed description of the tasks forming the case study and the individuals who have been involved is provided in Appendix A.
