Michael Ferguson, Minister for State Development, Construction and Housing (Tas), Media Release, 27 February 2022

The Tasmanian Liberal Government is expanding the use of recycled rubber from truck tyres in road resurfacing this year as part of its commitment to waste reduction and fostering a circular economy.

About 1.3 million tyres reach the end of their life each year in Tasmania, most of which ends up in landfill or stockpiles.

Some of these tyres are now being processed into crumb rubber and blended with bitumen for use as asphalt in the State road maintenance program.

Crumb rubber has already been used on several resurfacing sites in the north of the State this summer, including on the Bass, East Tamar and West Tamar highways.

Currently the tyres are processed into crumb rubber in Victoria before being blended with bitumen at Fulton Hogan’s plant in Launceston for use in road resurfacing.

However, the Government has committed $4 million to work with industry to establish a crumbing plant in Tasmania so we can move towards undertaking the entire process within the State.

We are also providing $4 million over four years to assist industry through the transition to using crumb rubber in road resurfacing and ensuring there is no disruption to our roads program.

The Tasmanian Liberal Government will continue to work with industry to look for opportunities to utilise crumb rubber in road resurfacing.