Hundreds of tonnes of used tyres could be stockpiled in Tokoroa as a tyre recycler looks to shift its operations to the Waikato.
EcoVersion are in talks with South Waikato District Council to relocate their operations to Tokoroa after they were ordered to remove their 1200-tonne tyre stockpile from Kawerau.
Bay of Plenty Regional Council served the company with an abatement notice in June following concerns EcoVersion did not have adequate environmental controls in place for the tyre stockpile.
EcoVersion have until September 1 to remove the tyres from their Spencer Avenue site in Kawerau.
EcoVersion director Angela Merrie confirmed to Stuff that the company was in talks with South Waikato District Council on a possible shift of its operations, but said it was “still early days”.
EcoVersion currently occupy an industrial site in Tokoroa, on the corner of State Highway 32 and Braeside Avenue.
Council chief executive Craig Hobbs said the council was not comfortable with tyres being stockpiled at the site and had shared its views with EcoVersion.
Hobbs said the council was happy to work with EcoVersion to establish operations in the right location.
The company has applied for a certificate of compliance under the Resource Management Act which was being processed by council.
The application will be assessed according to performance standards outlined in the council’s District Plan.
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Merrie said the abatement notice served on the company by Bay of Plenty Regional Council had been given to all tyre recyclers in the region and reflected the council’s push to tighten up protocols around tyre storage.
“The difficulty we’ve faced is councils to date have not had any best practices in place for storage of tyres and now they’ve realised they need some protocols in place,” Merrie said.
Earlier this year EcoVersion were awarded a contract by the Hamilton City Council to remove 150,000 used tyres abandoned at a Frankton depot.
The last of the tyre mound was removed from Frankton on May 18 and tyres have since turned up at a Waihi Beach quarry and farmland near Lake Taupo.
Merrie said the company would not necessarily shift its entyre 1200-tonne tyre stockpile to one location and instead was looking at other storage sites outside the Waikato.
Waikato Regional Council spokesman Stephen Ward said there was no automatic requirement for people working with end-of-life tyres to get a consent.
However the regional council or district councils could issue notices for the removal of tyres under the Resource Management Act if they believed the tyres could damage the environment through actual or potential discharges of contaminants.
Paula Southgate, chairwoman of Waikato Regional Council, said the issue of tyre storage sites would be discussed at the next Waikato Mayoral Forum in August.
Southgate said there was a need for multi-level discussions on how old tyres should be used and stored.
“At the end of the day moving tyres around our region, or from region to region, isn’t the solution but we do know that we just can’t magic them away,” Southgate said.
“So we do have to come up with safe and appropriate storage solutions and the best way to provide for that is to have conversations about it.”
– Stuff