Parklands Albury Wodonga wish to say a big THANK YOU to the City of Wodonga for accepting a very large trailer full of tyres that have been dumped on Wodonga’s roadsides over recent years.  Parklands staff and volunteers regularly pick up dumped rubbish and tyres whenever coming across these whilst out in the regional parklands.

The dumping of vehicle tyres is a really big issue for our environment and waterways as old tyres contain chemicals and heavy metals that leach into the environment as the tyres break down.  Car tyres are a major global waste problem. Collectively we drive 1.5 billion tyres to the end of their useful lives every year.

The good news is that new technologies like pyrolysis and de-vulcanisation mean tyres can now be recycled to become tyre-derived fuels, new rubber products, playground surfaces, new tyres and rubber-modified asphalt.

Albury Waste Management Centre is a drop-off point for Tyre Stewardship Australia. Tyre drop-off is free for the first 2 tyres.

In 2014, the Australian Government established Tyre Stewardship Australia and the national Tyre Product Stewardship Scheme to promote the increase in environmentally sustainable collection and recycling processes and to explore and promote new uses for and products using recycled end-of-life tyres.

The Scheme has the multiple benefits of transforming a waste product into useful products, creating new industries and employment opportunities while also reducing the environmental harm caused by illegal dumping.

The Scheme is also designed to deliver a range of benefits for individual Participants, the tyre industry as a whole and for the community. These include:

• increased use of a resource stream currently being disposed of as waste
• reduction in the number of tyres not going to an environmentally sound use
• an enhanced Australian recycling industry and sustainable markets for end-of-life tyres and tyre derived products
• increased capacity to handle end-of-life tyres in Australia
• creation of new markets for end-of-life tyres and tyre derived products through research and development
• an improved business environment particularly for tyre collectors and recyclers
• increased consumer awareness of the impacts of end-of-life tyre disposal, and
• enhanced credibility for the tyre industry through demonstrated leadership in environmental management and adoption of corporate social responsibility strategies.

Thank you to the local tyre industry for their contributions towards tackling this large challenge!