Drop off your old tyres for free at Awapuni Resource Recovery Park

Published on 02 September 2024

Since it’s the start of September, you can now drop off your old tyres for free at Awapuni Resource Recovery Park.

This is part of the Tyrewise product stewardship scheme, which was set up to help manage the disposal of old tyres in an environmentally friendly way

You can bring up to five clean tyres at a time to the park. The scheme covers all air-filled and solid tyres from motorised vehicles, including cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, trailers, and off-road vehicles.

Resource Recovery Operations Manager, Chris Evans, says the roll out of this product stewardship scheme is great.

“This scheme is a big step towards reducing waste and protecting our environment. Over the past year, we’ve received 1,702 tyres, so being able to offer free tyre drop-offs makes it even easier for our community to dispose of them responsibly.”

Tyrewise was set up to make sure old tyres are disposed of in an environmentally friendly way. Tyres were one of six priority products that were declared in the Waste Minimisation Act 2008, and is the first scheme to be implemented. Since March this year, a small fee has been added by retailers to all new tyres sold or imported in New Zealand. The money collected over the last six months is now being used to cover the cost of getting rid of old tyres. Tyres dropped off to the Awapuni Resource Recovery Park will be used as fuel for a cement kiln.

Please note that bicycle tyres and tyres from non-motorised items like prams aren’t included yet but may be added to the scheme later in the year. Dirty tyres and tyres with rims are also unable to be accepted under the scheme.