Mining & Agriculture

Off-The-Road (OTR) tyre users, such as the Mining and Agriculture industries, can tip the balance towards a truly national circular tyre economy.  

OTR tyres and rubber products are built to last in tough conditions and are therefore a source of high-quality material for reuse in manufacturing and construction, particularly infrastructure such as roads. 

Up to 245,000 tonnes of OTR rubber products are used and become waste each year, with around 80% of this coming from the mining sector and 10% from agriculture (with the remaining 10% of waste generation coming from Aviation, Construction and Industrial sectors). 

Most of the OTR rubber products reach their end of life in regional, rural and remote areas of Australia. And regrettably, the vast majority of these used OTR products is buried on site, stockpiled, or sent to landfill. Currently just under 10% of used OTR tyres are recovered, compared to around 90% of automotive tyres. 

Finding a new life for the valuable resources in used tyres offers many environmental, social, and economic benefits, particularly in regional, rural and remote Australia. But there are barriers to recovery, such as: 

• the low perceived costs of on-site disposal 

• the high costs of logistics and recovery 

• uncertainty about technologies and waste management approaches 

• uncertainty about end market size and capacity 

• a low priority for tyre waste stewardship. 

Through TSA, mining and agricultural operators can overcome these barriers and find viable solutions to recover OTR tyres that have reached their end of life on site. See these case studies on what mining and recycling companies are already doing in Australia.