The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has issued a final decision to authorise a national Tyre Stewardship Scheme for five years. The aim of the scheme is to reduce the amount of used tyres entering landfill, being illegally dumped or exported overseas.
The Australian Tyre Industry Council (ATIC) applied for authorisation of the proposed scheme, which will be administered by Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA).
“The ACCC is satisfied that the scheme is likely to result in a benefit to the public by reducing the volume of used tyres entering the domestic waste stream or being exported overseas and burned for fuel in an environmentally unsustainable way,” ACCC deputy chair Dr Michael Schaper said.
“This will reduce the environmental and health and safety hazards associated with such disposal methods.”
Broadly, all participants in the scheme will be required to commit to contribute to the environmentally sound use of end-of-life tyres, elimination of the inappropriate export of baled tyres from Australia, elimination of the illegal dumping of end-of-life tyres and elimination of the disposal of end-of-life tyres to landfill.
It also involves a levy of $0.25 per passenger car tyre equivalent being imposed on tyre importers to fund the operation of the Scheme. Among other things, levy funds will be used by the scheme’s administrator to fund research and development activities for tyre-derived products.
“The ACCC is satisfied that the ability of members to deal with ‘non members’ in certain circumstances, the voluntary nature of the scheme and the small cost of the industry levy, means there is likely to be little, if any, public detriment generated,” Dr Schaper said.
However, the ACCC believes the success of the scheme will ultimately depend on its effective administration. Therefore it has imposed conditions of authorisation in order to ensure robust and transparent annual reporting by the board of TSA and an independent review of the scheme will occur. It is important that the scheme delivers tangible benefits.
Authorisation provides immunity from court action for conduct that might otherwise raise concerns under the competition provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. Broadly, the ACCC may grant an authorisation when it is satisfied that the public benefit from the conduct outweighs any public detriment.