Old tyres dumped in landfill throughout Australia could be recycled and used in bitumen roads and as soft-fall safety surfaces.
Australian Environment Ministers decided to develop, from 2010, a government and industry run scheme to recycle 100 per cent of the 52.5 million discarded used vehicle tyres each year.
"Rather than any regulatory process, the industry was much more likely to achieve this outcome by positive incentive at no cost to government," says managing director of Reclaim Industries Limited, John Crosby.
According to Crosby, the whole of Australia's tyre stockpile would be eliminated if the government mandated the use of crumbed, recycled rubber in bitumen additive to produce flexible surfaces that are less likely to crack, safety surfacing, pressure moulding and specialist adhesives and paints.
Reclaim Industries was keen to be involved. It is Australia's sole, nationally operating, supplier of surfaces made only from recycled rubber extracted from old tyres at its Sydney, Perth and Adelaide plants.
Crosby suggests that the federal government mandate the use of recycled rubber in all soft play areas in the 260 early learning and childcare centres being developed over the next four years.
"Equally, the playground surface industry - in which Reclaim holds a 30 per cent market share - could grow three-fold just by the spreading of best practice in safety surfacing of the leading local government authorities to all local governments."
This could steadily lift recycled rubber in bitumen from its current 6,000 to 8,000 tonnes/annum to a maximum of 90,000 tonnes annually.
