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30 July 2003: Up to 5,000 tonnes of tyres a year will be disposed of in a facility proposed for North Kildare by Padraig Thornton Waste Disposal Ltd.

The facility, near Moyvalley, is part of an Integrated Waste Disposal project which will also be dealing with end-of-life vehicles under the EU ELV directive.

From the vehicles alone going through the facility, there will be 100,000 tyres a year to be processed, and the company plans to open its doors to tyres from other sources in Ireland.

The promoters of the project - which is currently going through the planning process, and is not expected to be up and running until the spring of 2005 - haven't yet decided what level of processing will be undertaken.

"Until we develop some markets for more highly processed material, it is likely we'll simply shred the tyres and dispose of them in the landfill part of our facility," says Conor Walsh of PTWDL. "To process them more finely so they can be used for other purposes would require much more capital investment, and at the end of the day the market will dictate what we do."

Whole tyres are already banned from landfill under EU law, and the 'old reliables' of using them to keep tarpaulins weighed down on farm materials are already more than saturated. By 2006, even shredded tyres will be banned from landfill.

If the tyres are processed to a 'crumb' - more expensive to do - it can be used in footpaths and playgrounds and road construction, but the difference in cost for equipment to do this runs into millions of euros.

In the UK, the Environment Agency has recommend that processed tyres could be used as a substitute fuel in process plant such as cement kilns, instead of coal or oil.

"The emissions are much better ... about half to a third," says Conor Walsh. "But we don't have many options along those lines here."

There are also other options, such as surfaces for all-weather equestrian tracks, but like most recycle situations in Ireland, the problem is our small markets for recycled materials.

"But by the time we're operational, it gives us a couple of years to find markets, though because this is a problem facing all of Europe, there's going to be a lot of competition," Conor Walsh melds hope with caveat.

	July 2003 - Brian Byrne
Tyre process plant mooted 30 July 2003: Up to 5,000 tonnes of tyres a year will be disposed of in a facility proposed for North Kildare by Padraig Thornton Waste Disposal Ltd. The facility, near Moyvalley, is part of an Integrated Waste Disposal project which will also be dealing with end-of-life vehicles under the EU ELV directive. From the vehicles alone going through the facility, there will be 100,000 tyres a year to be processed, and the company plans to open its doors to tyres from other sources in Ireland. The promoters of the project - which is currently going through the planning process, and is not expected to be up and running until the spring of 2005 - haven't yet decided what level of processing will be undertaken. "Until we develop some markets for more highly processed material, it is likely we'll simply shred the tyres and dispose of them in the landfill part of our facility," says Conor Walsh of PTWDL. "To process them more finely so they can be used for other purposes would require much more capital investment, and at the end of the day the market will dictate what we do." Whole tyres are already banned from landfill under EU law, and the 'old reliables' of using them to keep tarpaulins weighed down on farm materials are already more than saturated. By 2006, even shredded tyres will be banned from landfill. If the tyres are processed to a 'crumb' - more expensive to do - it can be used in footpaths and playgrounds and road construction, but the difference in cost for equipment to do this runs into millions of euros. In the UK, the Environment Agency has recommend that processed tyres could be used as a substitute fuel in process plant such as cement kilns, instead of coal or oil. "The emissions are much better ... about half to a third," says Conor Walsh. "But we don't have many options along those lines here." There are also other options, such as surfaces for all-weather equestrian tracks, but like most recycle situations in Ireland, the problem is our small markets for recycled materials. "But by the time we're operational, it gives us a couple of years to find markets, though because this is a problem facing all of Europe, there's going to be a lot of competition," Conor Walsh melds hope with caveat.
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