Tyre-dumping hotspot, the undercover investigation – and a $200,000 clean-up

More than 3000 tyres illegally dumped inside a NSW national park have sparked a multi-agency undercover investigation and an elaborate remediation effort involving specialist contractors using a flying fox pulley system.

Despite identifying the tyre dumper, who made a full admission to the Environment Protection Authority and was fined $60,000, the clean-up bill was $200,000.

Mohammad Eid, the previous owner of Motown Tyres, a shop near Wollongong, was caught dumping after a joint undercover investigation between the EPA and the National Parks agency.

This masthead was unable to contact Eid, who sold the business to a new owner with no connection to the dumping.

The incident in August last year at Macquarie Pass National Park, south-west of Wollongong, has highlighted how consumers are effectively being charged twice to dispose of old tyres.

“They’re paying once when they’re getting their tyres replaced at a retail store, a disposal fee, but then they’re paying again through council rates to have these tyres cleaned up from an illegally dumped site,” Lina Goodman, chief executive of Tyre Stewardship Australia, said.

“It’s burning a hole in our pocket. We don’t even realise it’s happening.”

Footage obtained by this masthead from the EPA investigation shows tyres being flung down an embankment inside the national park.

After consumers pay to dispose of old tyres, retailers offload them to a third party. Legitimate recyclers and collectors process, shred or crumb the tyres, which are used for road networks, to help make gym flooring and rail mats, or as a fuel replacement to coal.

But tyre-dumping has become an $6.5 million annual problem across Australia, according to research conducted on behalf of the Tyre Stewardship between 2022 and 2023.

In NSW alone, about 85,000 tyres are illegally dumped, according to Tyre Stewardship. The average cost to remove individual tyres can range between $18 in a metro location to $30 in remote areas, meaning councils or taxpayers are shelling out between $1.5 million and $2.5 million in annual clean-up fees.

The organisation has lobbied to establish a mandatory scheme for the sustainable collection and recycling of tyres. Last year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission approved a three-year extension to the stewardship’s voluntary scheme, which pockets a levy from imported tyres.

“The federal Environment Minister, Minister Murray Watt, has put tyres on the priority list. There is an action for all the environment ministers to conduct a cost-benefit analysis, which is the next step to a mandatory scheme for end-of-life tyres,” Goodman said.

“Because [NSW] created their own product stewardship legislation, NSW could go it alone to conduct a mandatory scheme, and that potentially could be a good path forward if federally nothing happens.”

The EPA considers tyre-dumping a “significant environmental hazard” as it doesn’t easily break down, can become a breeding ground for vermin and mosquitoes, is highly flammable and leaches harmful chemicals into soil and groundwater.

In NSW, under the polluter-pays policy, people caught illegally dumping tyres are responsible for a portion of the clean-up costs arising from the pollution, in addition to a fine.

“Dumping more than 3400 tyres down a steep embankment in a national park was not only reckless – it also created an enormous clean-up challenge,” EPA director of operations Adam Gilligan said.

Consumers can use Tyre Stewardship’s directory to find local retailers who recycle second-hand tyres. 

The EPA urges community members who find illegally dumped tyres or suspect someone is dumping to call the environment line on 131 555, or make an online report on RIDonline.

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