New Zealand Environment Minister Nick Smith is offering grants for new ideas to recycle old tyres each year that currently end up at the landfill or illegally dumped.
Smith said New Zealand went through about four million tyres each year. One million were re-exported for recycling or waste energy and the remaining three million either ended up in landfills or were dumped.
“New Zealand’s current management of waste tyres does not match up with our clean, green brand. Too many end up in rivers and on the coast, or unwanted stockpiles posing a fire risk,” said Smith to the New Zealand Herald. “The problem is identifying alternative uses. The markets for recycled rubber products like mats and artificial turfs are limited.”
He said this round of funding for the Waste Minimisation Fund was focused on end-of-life tyres. The fund was set up in 2009 and paid for from the levies on waste at landfills. Applications close on November 11.