Bold start: An illegal tyre dump the size of a small mountain sits in a remote ditch near Townsville, and it could cost more than a hundred thousand dollars to remove. But here’s where it gets controversial: the real cost isn’t just money—it’s environmental risk, policy gaps, and a race to turn waste into usable resources.
A roughly 1,000-tire pile lies in a often-overlooked roadside ditch about an hour and a half from Townsville. Each year, about 540,000 tonnes of tyres reach the end of their useful life. While many are recycled or used as fuel in overseas industrial projects, a significant portion ends up dumped or stockpiled, both legally and illegally.
Dave Dudley leads a community-driven anti-dumping group called TIDY Up Townsville. He found the illegal dump nearly a year ago.
"They’re piled up on top of each other and there’s a heap burnt in the ditch," Mr. Dudley described.
After his discovery, he notified Queensland’s Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation. The site was investigated for a period, but officials couldn’t identify the offender.
Mr. Dudley estimates removal would exceed $100,000 due to the need for heavy machinery, crew, transport, and sorting processes at an appropriate facility. He argues the state government should step in to clean it up.
What happens to tyre waste?
A nationwide voluntary program invites importers, retailers, and recyclers to handle tyres responsibly.
Lina Goodman, CEO of Tyre Stewardship Australia, notes that rogue operators who illegally dump tyres are common. They typically pocket about $5 per tyre from retailers, then discard the tyres illegally.
"The opportunity for someone to collect a tyre, pocket the money, and then dump them is really easy in Australia, and we have to make it stop," she said.
Tyres left dumped on roadsides pose environmental risks, including serving as fuel for fires. When tyres burn, they burn hotter and often in hard-to-reach environments, increasing the chance of the fire spreading.
Goodman added that about 66% of the 530,000 tonnes of end-of-life tyres are recovered, but only 26% are reused or recycled. The remaining 40% are shredded and shipped offshore to be used as fuel in cement kilns and other industrial processes.
She advocates making tyre stewardship mandatory to curb illegal dumping, protect legitimate recyclers undercut by rogue operators, and level the playing field.
"If there’s a regulatory approach to tyres—where an organisation cannot collect a tyre without a legitimate end-of-life application—that would greatly reduce illegally dumped tyres," she said. In New Zealand, a mandatory stewardship scheme led to a 47% drop in illegal dumping in the first year in at least one council.
Recycling tyres is complex but could unlock new resources
Veena Sahajwalla, director of the Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub at the University of New South Wales, challenges the idea that recycling is merely a like-for-like swap. She explains that tyres, when broken down, may yield diverse applications beyond traditional rubber products.
"Tyres contain fundamentally important elements like carbon and hydrogen, which could be harnessed in green steel production," she said.
Her core message: waste isn’t simply waste—it’s a resource if we learn to harness it. Rubber crumbs, for example, can substitute coal and coke to provide carbon in steelmaking, injected into an electric arc furnace to drive metallurgical reactions.
Markets for these materials require deliberate cultivation. "We can’t just collect or shred and wait for the market to appear," she warned. Real progress demands intentional development with industrial partners and re-manufacturing strategies.
A social responsibility angle
Mr. Dudley voices anger not just toward illegal dumps but also toward the way waste ends up in the environment. He points out that industries often dump drums of oil and solar panels, seemingly to save money, but at the real cost to taxpayers and public health.
"If we can afford big cars, trucks, boats, and large homes, we should also be able to dispose of our waste properly," he argued.
Both the federal and Queensland state governments are taking steps. A federal spokesperson said the recycling and waste reduction act is under review, including rules that would regulate tyre exports and stewardship. A Queensland Environment and Innovation spokesperson confirmed an active investigation into the private-land dump and noted fines of up to $166,900 for serious environmental breaches.
Closing thought and invitation
This issue sits at the intersection of policy gaps, community action, and the untapped potential of waste. Should tyre stewardship become mandatory nationwide to prevent illegal dumping and accelerate recycling, or would a market-driven approach with stronger enforcement suffice? Share your stance in the comments: Do you think mandatory stewardship would transform tyre recycling in your region, or could better economic incentives and stricter enforcement do the job faster?
