Mandatory Tyre Stewardship

Sustainable Tyre Recycling Australia has formally rejected a key recommendation of the Australian government’s tyre inquiry, warning that mandatory tyre stewardship would harm the industry, jobs and the environment.

The Recommendation STRA Wants Rejected

The parliamentary committee’s report, released 15 October, recommends imposing mandatory stewardship on the tyre recycling industry. STRA director Greg Turnbull says the move would threaten the viability of many small recyclers and create a “lowest common denominator” market in which smaller firms focused on innovation and research and development go out of business. “If this happens, the percentages of waste tyres recovered in Australia will decrease, leading to poorer outcomes for the environment,” he said, pointing to an approximately 90 per cent recovery rate for passenger and truck-and-bus tyres as evidence that no further regulation is needed in that segment. STRA is urging the government to reject the recommendation.

Off-The-Road Tyres: The Disappointing Omission

The clearest gap in STRA’s own data is the off-the-road (mining and agricultural) segment, where recovery sits at just 8 to 12 per cent. “Despite the low percentage of OTR tyres which are recovered, the committee failed to recommend a ban of on-site burial of these tyres, which is disappointing and a blow to better circular economy outcomes,” Mr Turnbull said. The OTR weakness matches the inquiry’s own finding that off-the-road tyres are the weakest segment of the Australian market.

The Crumb Rubber Controversy

STRA is also pushing back on the report’s recommendation to expand crumb rubber use, citing the European Commission’s phased microplastics ban, which covers crumb rubber used as infill for synthetic turf fields because of concerns about impacts on living organisms, including human health. “There could be similar health risks in Australia if crumb rubber use is broadened,” Mr Turnbull said. Notably, the association does support stronger enforcement of existing laws, including the export ban on whole baled waste tyres and non-compliant shredded tyres, which it says is not currently enforced adequately.

Why The Debate Matters For Plant Investors

Whatever the stewardship outcome, the practical takeaway for investors does not change: value in Australia’s tyre market is migrating from low-value recovery — combustion, crumb, burial — toward materials that sell. STRA’s own case against crumb rubber is one of the strongest arguments for the pyrolysis route: a pyrolysis plant converts tyres into pyrolysis oil, spec-grade recovered carbon black and clean steel scrap, rather than microplastic-prone crumbs. The market question is no longer whether tyres will be recovered, but whether they will be recovered as material.

Learn More:

• Feasibility studies for tyre pyrolysis and rCB projects
• Klean’s Australian tyre pyrolysis project
• Circular rCB: commercial-scale recovered carbon black production

Build to a Standard the Stewardship Debate Won’t Change

The stewardship debate will run for years, and the route that outlasts it is the one with guaranteed performance. Together with KBR we deliver tire pyrolysis plants turnkey with performance guarantees: contracted output of pyrolysis oil, spec-grade rCB and clean steel at commercial scale. That is what 100% bankable means and it is what financiers will look for first, under either policy outcome.

The references are live and commercial scale: an operating commercial-scale recovered carbon black plants with thirty-plus years of delivered commercial pyrolysis plants, and KBR holding Klean’s TyreNova technology in its IP portfolio; and we make the technology itself available to anyone — license it, or have KBR build the plant.

Want to see the plant economics and licensing terms for Australia?

Contact Klean Industries » GO.