Growing push to recycle the Pilbara's 44,000 tonnes of mining tyre waste locally

The Shire of Ashburton is commissioning a feasibility study into the potential for a tyre recycling facility near Onslow. (ABC News: Kathyrn Diss)

They power the Australian economy, but the gigantic tyres on the hundreds of trucks and diggers working across the mines of Western Australia's Pilbara are also proving a significant disposal challenge.

With the region accounting for close to half of the country's mining tyre waste, most end up buried, stockpiled on site or sent to landfill, nearly 44,000 tonnes of tyres used each year.

That's almost five times the next highest area of Bowen Basin in Queensland and close to six times the amount of the New South Wales Hunter region, which has the third highest rate.

Plans are now underway to ensure more of them can be recycled locally.

Transporting south

Tyrecycle, which works to find alternative outcomes for waste product heading for landfill, opened a tyre recycling centre in East Rockingham, near Perth, earlier this year.

The facility is capable of taking the massive mining tyres, but is primarily focused on cars and trucks.

The used tyres are turned into crumb rubber and granules, which are later used in roads and playgrounds.

The company is looking to build what it has described as Australia's first bespoke OTR mining tyre recycling facility in Port Hedland and expects it to be open by the end of the year.

Tyrecycle chief executive Jim Fairweather said the project faced many hurdles, including mining companies being allowed to bury tyres on site.

"I think you're seeing now mining companies have a dramatic change of heart," he said.

"They understand that social licence is of big importance to every business's operations and it's no difference to them.

"I think the public would be wanting, like they do with all their other waste streams, mining companies [that] have managed that waste stream appropriately."

Staying local

A Pilbara council is also looking at setting up a facility for used tyres and conveyor belts.

The Shire of Ashburton encompasses the mining towns of Tom Price, Paraburdoo and Pannawonica.

Development consultant Steve Hyams said the project had the potential to create local jobs during the construction phase and ongoing operations.

"What we're trying to do is to create this more localised circular economy where waste generated in the Pilbara is recovered, reused and recycled in the Pilbara," he said.

The shire has commissioned a feasibility study, and a waste management facility near Onslow has been flagged as a potential location for the venture.

Mr Hyams said the remoteness of some of the areas where the tyres were located, and their size, presented a challenge for transportation.

"It could be that we do campaigns on each of these mine sites and we take a shredder, and we take the guillotine, and we take trucks and we shred these tyres into pieces that are more manageable," he said.

"The feasibility studies are designed to investigate that and to come up with solutions."

Getting them out of the pit

Tyre Stewardship Australia, a group that promotes the development of markets for used tyres, released its Tipping the Balance report last year.

Chief executive Lina Goodman said it found an estimated 43,890 tonnes of used OTR tyres were generated annually in the Pilbara.

"We want them out of pit, and we want them in the hands of legitimate recyclers that are going to utilise that material into value added products," she said.

"I think that is demonstrated particularly in other parts, such as Canada, that are doing this in a much bigger scale than we are and it works."

Ms Goodman said the report found less than 15 per cent of OTR tyres were going to sustainable outcomes.

"Having facilities close by to the volume means that can be minimised into a product that can be easily transported and ready for its next phase of processing," she said.

"We don't want to be carting these big giant tyres for long distances, for a whole range of reasons; one is safety, and the other is the emissions associated with transport."