handling end of life tyres Archives

Jul

“Crumbed rubber and the purposes to which it is being used could be a future environmental disaster that will need to be cleaned up at some period by the next generation: That’s the considered opinion of our COO, Trevor Bayley.

“It’s not something that I’m on my soapbox about, but from everything that I’ve seen I challenge anyone who considers the facts to reach an alternative opinion”.

This article is by Professor Linda Chalker-Scott from the Department of Horticulture Washington State University who is regarded as an expert in the use of crumb rubber as a garden mulch,

Although the practice is not widespread in Australia her research and remarks are relevant to the use of crumb rubber in Australia in playing fields, playgrounds and golf course pathways.

Jul

Like many people who are involved in recycling, Trevor Bayley the Chief Operating Officer of Green Distillation Technologies, has great concerns that many things we are doing today will have future serious environmental consequences.

This thought was sparked by a story of a South African company that is taking the treads from truck tyres that are being re-treaded and grinding it into crumb rubber which is then made into rubber mats and carpet underlay for world-wide sale.

In this blog, to focus on the future problems caused by this form of recycling, we move the clock forward ten years from now to 2029….

May

piled up old tyres Some interesting figures on the destination of old tyres in Australia have been divulged today on the ACCC website as part of the re-confirming of the status of industry-supported Australian Tyre Stewardship Australia.

Apr

old mining truck tyres for recycling The development of Australian world first technology to recycle end of life car and truck tyres has been a story in itself, but that is nothing compared with working out the logistics of how to handle those extra-large ‘off the road’ tyres (OTRs) used by heavy duty mining dump trucks, large agricultural tractors and road making equipment.

As an incentive, the recycling rewards are tantalising because using the Green Distillation Technology a tyre that weighs 3.5 tonnes will yield 1500 litres of oil, 1.5 tonnes of carbon, as well as the steel reinforcing which will go back to the tyre manufacturer for reuse.

Aug

As well as being a major environmental problem, end-of-life tyres are difficult to handle from both a storage and transport point of view.

old tyre collection bins So a simple and clever idea based of a returnable bin is solving what has been a transport and logistics nightmare in the past for council tips as well as tyre retailers, transport companies and tyre collectors. The returnable bins have been developed by waste tyre collector JLW Services of Cootamundra, a business that operates throughout New South Wales and North Western Australia and has plans to expand nationwide.

The bins come in 50m3, 38m3, 25m3, 18.5m3, 10.5m3 sizes and comprise of a heavy duty welded cage which is simply dropped off at the tyre retailer, transport depot, mine site or council tip. The end-of-life tyres are placed in the bin and when it is full it is collected and a new bin dropped off. The capacity that can be handled in the bins range from 600 mixed car and four wheel drive tyres for the 50m3 size down to 320 for the 25m3, while the 10.2m3 is designed for waste transfer stations and motorcycle shops.

Crumbed rubber tyres – a blog from the future

Interesting statistics on the destination of old tyres in Australia

How to ‘deconstruct’ a three and half tonne tyre

Returnable bins make old tyres much easier to handle