A war of words has blown up over a €3+ fee for the collection and disposal of car tyres. The company set up to run the scheme says the fee is already effectively being charged by retailers and that it is only making sure tyres are properly collected, disposed of or re-cycled. Those against the move insist it is a new, unwarranted tax. Eddie Cunningham outlines the official view while independent expert Padraic Deane reports on why many retailers are so angry.
The case for:
Those involved in the new ‘official’ system say the €3 charge is not new, that is has effectively been in place as an environment/collection levy for some time.
The new system, which will kick in during the second half of 2016 will be overseen by REPAK ELT (End-of-life-Tyres) a not-for-profit organisation set up to establish, run and oversee the collection and disposal of up to 15 million used tyres lying in quarries, farms, dumps, etc, around the country.
Tony O’Sullivan is the executive strategy and planning manager at REPAK. He insists tyres are not being disposed of properly; some are being dumped, others left to rot, others exported. And that is despite existing charges ranging up to €3 for each car tyre to cover collection. He says those charges will be formalised under the new deal. It will be €2.80 (plus either 13pc or 23pc VAT). “It is not an additional charge,” he emphasises.
A partial compliance scheme in 2008 (TRACS) found there were 1,600 to 2,000 economic operators – importers, retailers, part-time dealers etc – in the tyre ‘business’. Half were non-compliant. There was “something of a black hole”, he says.
A 2013 scheme made tyre producers fully responsible for their product from A to Z. Before then responsibility ended with the transaction. Mr O’Sullivan claims consumers have been paying on the double for tyres: through the levy and, later, in taxes when their local authority cleans up a tyre dump.
Full story – www.independent.ie
