Still looking for a new year’s resolution? Why not join Tyrecycle and Revolve ReCYCLING’s bike tyre and tube recycling solution.
Up to 10 per cent of a typical bike shop’s waste is rubber from tyres and tubes; that’s up to 50 tonnes of rubber waste per year just from 100 bike shops in Sydney.
Data estimates there may be up to 14 million tyres and tubes or 10,0000 tonnes of material on unused bikes in Australian garages, verandas, and sheds.
Tyrecycle and Revolve ReCYCLING have decided to collaborate in 2023 with a plan to more efficiently and easily recycle these old bike tyres and tubes by:
- Collecting the materials from bike shops and individual riders;
- Aggregate and value-add by Revolve ReCYCLING;
- Transport to Tyrecycle by Bingo Industries;
- Recycle into new Australian-based products by Tyrecycle at its Erskine Park, NSW plant.
Director of Revolve ReCYCLING Pete Shmigel said bicycle tyres and tubes have been a challenge to recycle for a multitude of reasons – until now.
The challenges included the overall lack of scale and need to remove metal valves, which Mr Shmigel said will be solved by consolidating collections of tyre materials across many bike shops and pre-treating it so Tyrecycle can usefully use them.
CEO of Tyrecycle Jim Fairweather said the initiative is part of the company’s commitment to going circular.
“With higher-quality material, we can now more readily use bicycle tyres and tubes in our product manufacturing. This could include in rubber crumb used in playground equipment and in road-building materials,” Mr Fairweather said.
CEO of the Australian Council of Recycling (ACOR), Suzanne Toumbourou, said this collaboration is a “terrific example” of how recycling industry partners are innovators of environmental benefits.
“Four ACOR members are involved in taking what was going to landfill and now turning it into useful products,” Ms Toumourou said.
“This type of activity is what Governments should support, including Councils by providing drop-off points for used bicycles and e-bikes.”
Currently the recycling solution is available across Sydney in January 2023, with plans to expand to Canberra, Newcastle, Wollongong, and more.
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