On 12 April this year the TCT held a very successful volunteer event to clean and remove unwanted car tyres in and around to the South Arm Primary School in Hobart’s eastern shore. A total of 616 tyres were collected and taken to Longford where they will soon be shredded and sent to Tyrecycle’s facility in Melbourne for recycling. This was probably the first stand-alone tyre clean-up event held in Tasmania.
The clean-up day on 12 April involved 28 volunteers (about half from the local community and half from elsewhere). One thing that we discovered was that most of the effort was in removing dirt and other contaminants from inside the tyres and that some tyres are much harder to clean than others –very narrow tyres or those that have been crushed and are hard to get one’s hand into. Keeping discarded tyres clean in the first place would save a lot of work. Removing dirt before relocating them is a legal requirement, to prevent weeds, insects and spiders being transported around the state.
The school had identified tyres as a major hazard as a part of its fire management plan. Many other people and places, including schools, farmers and horse owners, have a similar their tyres were to burn.
The TCT would like to thank all those who contributed to an outstanding and successful event:
- South Arm Primary School for paying for the disposal of the tyres
- Tyrecycle for providing a 40% discount on the disposal cost
- Tyre Recycle Tasmania: for collecting the tyres so promptly and making a second trip to South Arm on ANZAC day to collect the remaining tyres
- volunteers from the local community and those dedicated TCT members and staff who travelled from Hobart and further afield to help.
We have identified 30 other sites around the state, totalling 6000 tyres, and continue to receive more reports. We cannot clean up all these sites without substantial sponsorship to cover the cost of disposal. Unfortunately our first few attempts at government and corporate sponsorship have been unsuccessful but we recently applied to another tyre industry organisation and are hopeful we will succeed this time.
We do not intend to sit on our hands waiting for a big sponsor. We want to raise funds ourselves to clean up one site at a time. Sponsors often prefer to support those who help themselves.
To clean up the next site we have on our radar will cost $2,000. The property owner runs a small shelter caring for abandoned and abused horses, treating and finding new homes for them, and is concerned about the potential hazard the tyres pose. We think she is highly deserving of assistance and Tyrecycle has agreed to sponsor this clean-up by providing a discount on the disposal. If you are is interested in supporting this project, we would welcome donations of any size.
You can make a donation or report tyres, either on your property or other land, via our website www.tastyrecleanup.com or phone us during office hours on 6234 3552
Peter McGlone
Director