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We are not undercutting the industry: JLW
THE Australian Tyre Recyclers Association( ATRA) is unimpressed that its call to oppose an extension of JLW Services’ licence conditions has fallen on deaf ears, saying operators such as JLW, which“ choose simply to landfill used tyres” were undercutting“ the legitimate recycling industry.”
However, both JLW and Tyre Stewardship Australia( TSA), which has accredited the former, have refuted
ATRA’ s claims.
ATRA executive officer Rob Kelman said in a letter to NSW Environment Minister Mark Speakman that operators such as JLW, which is not an ATRA member, were avoiding costs associated with processing used tyres and said it opposed the extension by the EPA to JLW’ s licence conditions, which would allow the operator to process up to 2080 tonnes of tyres annually and
BALERS | SHREDDERS | GLASS PULVERISING SYSTEMS CRUSHERS | COMPACTORS | GRINDERS stockpile up to 500 tonnes.
JLW currently operates a tyre shredding and storage facility on the outskirts of Forbes in the Central West of NSW and it has, since 2005, been processing 200 tonnes of waste tyres a year and stockpiling up to 48 tonnes.
Waste tyres are brought to the site where they are either shredded and landfilled at the quarry, or transported to Cootamundra for recycling.
The extension would result in another 10,240 tonnes of tyres stockpiled on the site over five years and the shredded landfill reaching two to four metres above natural ground levels.
“ ATRA’ s members have supported the NSW government with new regulations, trials of new tracking technologies, and have spent thousands of dollars to comply with these new requirements. To have the EPA turn around and undermine the sector like this is a kick in the gut. The NSW EPA is destroying the industry I’ d understood it was intent on supporting,” Kelman said.
TSA CEO Matt Genever told Inside Waste News it was aware of ATRA’ s concerns around mono-landfilling at the quarry and said it was working closely with JLW as well as all its accredited recyclers to find the most sustainable and environmentally friendly option for used tyres.
“ But the tyre market is a difficult one. There are lots of operators in rural and regional Australia and they struggle with things like transport and economies of scale,” Genever said.
“ In places like Forbes, transport would cost four to five times more than in metropolitan areas. These are factors that influence business operations.
“ But the TSA has had fantastic dialogues with JLW and the company has good long-term plans for their infrastructure. They are already recycling 100 % of their solid forklift tyres and JLW explained their plans for further processing in Forbes and
Cootamundra once Forbes cannot accept any more tyres. In reality, the quarry is almost at capacity.”
Despite receiving a five-year extension, JLW proprietor Jamie Walmsley said the site’ s lifespan was much shorter.
“ We only have one year to 18 months of landfill airspace at the quarry. So we have to time stretch it out over five years for materials that cannot be processed,” Walmsley said.
“ In terms of the stockpiling limit, we’ re simply modernising that limit. We cannot operate with the 48-tonne limit because we process a large number of earthmoving tyres, which are huge. We only hit our stockpile limit once or twice a year,” he added.
Walmsley also said the company was working towards 100 % recycling over the next 12 to 18 months and its plans included exporting tyres overseas for tyre-derived fuel( TDF).
Responding to ATRA’ s concerns, the NSW EPA said it remained committed to stimulating the recycling of as many waste tyres as possible.
An EPA spokesperson said the number of tyres to be handled by JLW was a small proportion of the total number of waste tyres generated in NSW.
“ NSW generates more than 13 million waste tyres every year. The EPA is committed to stimulating the recycling of as many of these tyres as possible. To achieve this, the EPA is providing funding and delivering regulatory reform to increase markets and infrastructure for recycled tyres,” the spokesperson said.
“ While disposal continues to be the least desirable waste management alternative for waste tyres, it may be necessary in limited cases to ensure the appropriate management of the total number of tyres generated in the state. As a result, the EPA determined that it was able to authorise the increase in size of the premises.”
12 INSIDEWASTE AUGUST 2016 Weekly news updates at www. BEN-global. com / waste