Environmental Protection Act Western Australia

Used tyres pose an environmental pollution risk mainly due the potential discharges and emissions from tyre fires. In addition to pollution problems, tyres can create the following issues:

• Tyre fires can cause a great deal of expense relating to fire extinguishing, clean-up, dispose of wastes, and property damage
• Tyre fires can cause injury or loss of life at the fire location, especially when stored tyres create clutter, which compromises fire escape and other fire management systems
• Tyre fires can spread to cause other fires, such as bushfires
• stored or dumped used tyres can provide breeding conditions for mosquitoes and habitat for feral animals and vermin.

Western Australian Legislation

The storage, handling, transportation and disposal of used tyres are specifically controlled under the following Western Australian legislation:

• Environmental Protection Regulations 1987 (Part 6, Schedule 1 and Schedule 5) - storage, handling, transportation and Disposal
• Environmental Protection (Controlled Waste) Regulations 2004 – transport
• Both the Environmental Protection Act 1986 and the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Act 2007 have provisions that can be relevant to the control of used tyre waste.

Western Australian legislation is available online from the State Law Publisher.

Used Tyre Transport

Used tyres are a controlled waste, as listed in Schedule 1 of the Environmental Protection (Controlled Waste) Regulations 2004, and as such, permitting and tracking of used tyres is required when transported from commercial premises.

The commercial transport of used tyres from any premises must be conducted by a licensed controlled waste carrier. Failure to ensure this occurs is an offence by the premises manager under Western Australian legislation. Furthermore, under Western Australian legislation, records of any controlled waste movement away from any premises must be retained for at least 3 years.

A controlled waste carrier will usually deal with the management of the waste tyres and the cost of managing the material may be built into the contract price.

Used Tyre Storage

Used tyres are regulated under Part 6 of the Western Australian Environmental Protection Regulations 1987, which stipulate:

• up to 500 tyres can be stored at a tyre fitting business (or at a place connected with one) or
• up to 100 tyres can be stored in any other place.

Otherwise, the permitted quantity of used tyre storage at any premises will be the amount indicated on a licence of those prescribed premises (under category 56 or 57 in Schedule 1 of the Environmental Protection Regulations 1987).

Any premises wishing to store more used tyres than stipulated under the standard allowances under Western Australian legislation will need to obtain a licence. Enquiries about licensing can be directed to Industry Regulation staff at their local regional office of the Department of Environment Regulation.

Used Tyre Disposal

Disposal of used tyres is partially restricted in Western Australia under the Environmental Protection Regulations 1987 (Schedule 5), which set the bounds for a Tyre Landfill Exclusion Zone in and around the Perth Metropolitan Area.
Tyre Landfill Exclusion Zone

Part 1 — Metropolitan

Armadale, Bassendean, Bayswater, Belmont, Cambridge, Canning, Claremont, Cockburn, Cottesloe, East Fremantle, Fremantle, Gosnells, Kalamunda, Kwinana, Melville, Mosman Park, Mundaring, Nedlands, Peppermint Grove, Perth, Rockingham, Serpentine-Jarrahdale, South Perth, Stirling, Subiaco, Swan, Victoria Park, Vincent, Wanneroo.

Part 2 — Country

Beverley, Boddington, Brookton, Chittering, Gingin, Mandurah, Murray, Northam (Town), Northam (Shire), Toodyay, Wandering, York.
Disposal Requirements

Disposal normally involves burial of batches of tyres at a landfill with minimum cover and separation distances between tyre batches to minimise fire risks. This also requires either:

• Previous written approval by the Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Environment Regulation when disposal occurs within the Tyre Landfill Exclusion Zone, or
• disposal at a local government district outside the Tyre Landfill Exclusion Zone

The Environmental Protection Regulations 1987 also allow for:

• Disposal by incineration, or
• Other disposal options.

In practice few situations have involved incineration as significant steps are required to protect the environment. Approval of alternative disposal methods would also require significant documentation and testing, which would be quite resource intensive.

Unlawful Disposal

To help reduce illegal dumping of unwanted waste materials, including tyres, an amendment to the Environmental Protection Act 1986 (Section 49A) has recently been introduced. Subsection 49A(2) creates an offence for discharging or abandoning waste into water to which the public has access, and subsection 49A(3) creates an offence for discharging or abandoning waste into any place other than water to which the public has access.