Blunder at tyre recycling plant

A ‘‘technical error’’ has seen truckloads of shredded tyres dumped in landfill by a company in charge of a taxpayer-funded tyre recycling initiative.

The error was spotted at the opening of a Waste Management tyre recycling plant in Wiri, south Auckland, when a customer pointed out the tyres had been shredded to the wrong specifications.

Waste Management confirmed 35 truckloads of tyres had been wasted – some was diverted to landfill and some was being stored – despite less than a fortnight earlier championing the opening of the milliondollar facility intended to cut down on waste.

The $3.8 million plant, paid for by the taxpayer-funded Waste Minimisation Fund, opened on May 18 to fanfare, television cameras and praise for the initiative to turn tyres into fuel.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by the Associate Minister for the Environment, Eugenie Sage, and Auckland Mayor Phil Goff.

But last week the tyres were spotted being dumped at the Redvale landfill.

Dumping tyres into landfill is not illegal but can cause environmental problems due to leachate metals from tyres.

Thousands of used tyres end up in landfill or illegally dumped in New Zealand each year.

Money from the Waste Minimisation Fund is available for projects that increase New Zealand’s waste of heavy reduction performance.

Waste Management confirmed 35 truckloads of tyre shred were taken to Redvale but said a ‘‘technical error’’ with machinery was to blame.

‘‘This was unexpected and was the result of advice from our overseas customer who visited for the opening, at which time they advised us that the specification . . . needed to be changed,’’ Waste Management national manager Marsha Cadman says.

‘‘This meant changes had made to our equipment.’’

New equipment will be this weekend.

‘‘We are one of the few companies in New Zealand taking an active lead in addressing the issue of end of life tyres, which remains a significant environmental problem,’’ Cadman says.

‘‘We look forward to making a significant contribution to recycling to be installed these tyres at this facility.’’

The blunder comes on the back of a Sunday Star-Times investigation that revealed Waste Management was dumping tyres at a Paeroa landfill.

At the time Waste Management said some tyres were being disposed of to meet consent conditions, but as the tyre processing plant became fully commissioned, that practice was discontinued.

Sage previously said that 70 per cent of end of life tyres were being sent to landfill, stockpiled or illegally dumped, rather than being recycled.

Marsha Cadman, Waste Management national manager