Green Distillation Technologies’s COO says it is still determined to proceed with its plans for tyre recycling plant in Tasmania despite encountering delays in securing government approvals.
The Edison Award-winning Australian tyre recycling company proposed building an $8.5 million plant to process a stockpile of end of life car and truck tyres at a site in Longford.
GDT Chief Operating Officer Trevor Bayley was in Tasmania last week for meetings with the government and Northern Midlands Council. He explained that they had applied for development approval for the plant, but still had to get the go ahead from the Environmental Protection Authority.
“From my discussions, I believe that the government is aware that they have a responsibility to fix the problem of tyre recycling in Tasmania and that the first step should be to put it on a sound financial footing.
“Clearly the Longford site, where there are an estimated 900,000 tyres waiting for processing, is a priority, although of course this stockpile is being added to by the 480,000 to 500,000 end of life car and truck tyres that Tasmania generates each year.”
He estimates that it will take three years to get rid of the existing stockpile.
GDT had initially planned to start work on the site in Longford on November last year and estimates that it will take six months for the plant to become operational from the time they receive government approval to proceed.
Tim Chugg of Tyre Recycle Tasmania supports GDT’s technology as the best option to recycle end of life tyres in Tasmania.
“I have been trying to get a viable recycling plant established at Longford for sixteen years and I am still committed to work to get it operating,” said Mr Chugg.
“The delays have been frustrating… Tasmanians are very environmentally conscious and I am sure that everyone in the state will want to see a solution found for the disposal of end-of-life tyres, which are such a major environmental problem,” he added.
While they wait for developments in Tasmania, Mr Bayley said that their plant in Warren, New South Wales is progressing. It is now going through the commissioning stage after operating as a test facility since 2009 and producing its first commercial quantities of oil, carbon and steel from old car and truck tyres.