Denis Naughten, the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment is making €700,000 available to remove stockpiles of tyres from farms. The collection dates for the removal of the stockpiles have been announced.
I made €1million available in funding last year for local authorities to deal with the clean-up of existing stockpiles of tyres across the country. I did this to support the introduction of a new compliance scheme for tyres and waste tyres from 1 October 2017. At that time I also indicated that I would look at the issue of tyres on farms. I am now following through on that commitment with the allocation of €700,000 to remove stockpiles on farms,
stated Minister Naughten.
The Irish Farm Film Producers Group (IFFPG), the national farm plastics recycling compliance scheme, has agreed to undertake the removal of tyres from farms through four (4) bring centre collection points beginning later this month,
added Minister Naughten.
The collections, which represent a good geographical spread, will begin on Saturday 29th September at Cootehill Mart, Co. Cavan from 9.00a.m. to 5.00p.m.
Collections will also take place in New Ross Mart, Co. Wexford on Tuesday 9th October;Athenry Mart, Co. Galway on Saturday 13th October and Gort Drum Mines, Monard, Co. Tipperary on Saturday 20th October2018.
If there is sufficient funding remaining following these collections further bring centres may be announced,
stated Minister Naughten.
The new structures for tyres and waste tyres have been working extremely well since their introduction and my announcement today is a show of continued support for them. The funding will give farmers an opportunity to remove unwanted tyres from their farms and they can be assured that these tyres will be treated in an environmentally sound manner. The vast majority of tyres collected will be recycled in Ireland which will support Irish jobs and the Circular Economy,
concluded Minister Naughten.
Farmers must bring their herd number to these collection centres for verification purposes. Full details are available on www.farmplastics.ie.
Note for Editor:
Under the Waste Management (Tyres and Waste Tyres) Regulations 2017 farmers are not allowed to stockpile tyres on farms. Where farmers use tyres to cover silage, they are prohibited from having more than 8 tyres per square meter of any silage pit’s floor area.
In addition, since 1 October 2017 any farmer who wishes to take in waste tyres for the purposes of anchoring silage must register with the new tyre compliance Scheme, Repak ELT.