Recycling rubber rates highly with Council

9 February 2015

Options to recycle the rubber from tyres disposed at the waste depot will continue to be explored by Broken Hill City Council.

Council is part of the NetWaste Group, a group of 14 Councils who work together on waste minimisation solutions as well as service provision, and who recently tendered for the collection and recycling of tyres.

“Unfortunately that tender process has not met all the needs of the 14 Councils and as such Broken Hill City Council will look at other options to meet our EPA requirements and those of our waste strategy in disposing of our tyres,” Council’s Our Environment spokesperson Cr Marion Browne said.

“Our decision does not impact on the local operations and we will continue to shred our tyres and store the crumb on-site as we look to find a recycling or removal solution. While tyre wire is already added to scrap metal collected on-site, options will be explored for the use of the rubber. It will be stockpiled to make it more economical in future to have the material transported from the city.

“Under the NetWaste tender, the shredding component was met, however we are keen as a Council to have the rubber recycled and taken off site – we need to explore our options in this regard. This will be done through consultation with the NetWaste group. Broken Hill receives around 10,000 tyres a year and the cost to shred them is around $20,000. Cr Browne also indicated that disposing of a large amount of tyres would soon come at a cost to the public so Council can meet EPA requirements. “Currently disposal is free, however as of July 1 2015 loads of 20 tyres or 200kgs will require a tracking number from the EPA for transporting of the tyres to a waste facility. The installation of a weighbridge and gatehouse will provide Council with the capacity to monitor and track the waste tyres received more closely and potentially recoup the management costs associated with disposal. It will also reduce the illegal dumping of waste tyres around the state,” Cr Browne said. “As members of NetWaste we will support any further processes to engage a regional tyre recycling option, as it has the potential to reduce the overall cost to Council to manage this waste.”

People looking to take tyres to the depot are reminded the facility accepts car, 4WD and small truck tyres only.

Media Contact: Damien Cocks 8080 3383