Simon Coveney, the minister for housing, planning and local government, is abolishing a scheme of self-regulation for tyre makers and the motor industry. The move comes after a study found that nearly half of all garages are not recycling tyres correctly.
Coveney has told the Dail there is “a serious problem with waste tyres in Ireland”, with widespread illegal dumping and up to half of them “unaccounted for”.
A self-policing scheme has failed to resolve the problem.
“In discussions prior to the 2007 tyre regulations, it was made clear this was the last opportunity for the tyre industry to embrace environmental compliance and take responsibility for the waste it produces,” the minister said. “As part of a wider review of producer-responsibility arrangements completed in 2014 . . . all aspects of the current system for managing waste tyres were assessed.”
The study found a 46% rate of non-compliance with the 2007 regulations among producers, suppliers and waste collectors. The system is failing to track data flows, there is a lack of consistent and accurate data, and the estimate of waste tyres unaccounted for is 25%-50% of the total due to be recycled.
Coveney said it was made clear to the industry that a full producer-responsibility initiative (PRI) model would be introduced if the 2007 regulations failed. His predecessor Alan Kelly had started to create one.
“There will be no new tyre tax or levy under the new system being introduced,” Coveney told Fergus O’Dowd in a parliamentary reply last week. “Consumers already pay a disposal fee to their retailer whenever they buy a new tyre. The model that is being introduced will formalise a charge that tyre retailers already apply, but which does not currently go towards the cost of managing the waste, as it is supposed to.
“It is absolutely right and fair to provide a system that ensures the existing levy is properly directed in the future, so that the consumer does not pay twice — once at the point of purchase, and again when the taxpayer has to meet costs incurred by local authorities for the clean-up of illegally dumped tyres.”
Coveney’s department said the minister would introduce a “visible environmental management charge” on January 1, and failure to register with the system would be an offence.
