The latest milestone report wraps up 2025, covering 1 October to the end of December, and highlights the ongoing success of the scheme and its place as part of the New Zealand tyre industry’s BAU.
Events to promote sustainable solutions
Two big highlights for the period were the Round Trip Summit in Melbourne and Future Roads Conference in Hamilton.
The inaugural summit was co-hosted by Tyrewise and Tyre Stewardship Australia with a focus on tyre and conveyer belt recycling. The two-day event was a great success and gave manufacturers, recyclers, policymakers and global industry stakeholders the chance to discuss and learn about technologies, and market and infrastructure opportunities.
A key activity was a workshop for New Zealand roading stakeholders. They heard firsthand from researchers, crumb rubber suppliers, roading contactors and Main Roads Western Australia about their findings and experiences of rubber in roading.
A survey after the event found 88% of the attendees rated their experience as very good and 11% as good. Importantly, 92% said they made meaningful connections, 68% would be pursuing new opportunities because of the summit and 78% would share knowledge with their organisations and networks.
“There was great enthusiasm for collaboration and much potential shown for building on the progress that has already taken place.” – NZ materials research professor
“Thanks for the invitation to the Tyre Summit in Melbourne, it was a fantastic experience. Kudos to the entire team for excellent organisation.” – NZ processor
“For a company new to roading we absorbed so much useful information and met some really good contacts willing to help kickstart rubber in roads here. We couldn’t have asked for a better platform.” – NZ processor
Aaron Stevens, independent tyre retailer and Bill Prebble, technical specialist, representing the New Zealand experience on an industry panel.
Some of the Tyrewise team also took part in the Future Roads Conference this year, holding a round table on the opportunities of recycled rubber materials in chip sealing, asphalt, and other roading applications. This is one of the most immediate, high-value pathways to create a circular economy for tyres in Aotearoa New Zealand. A resource page for rubber in roading was published on the Tyrewise site.
Strong interest in funding
Puna Taurima, the Tyrewise Fund, drew more interest than available funding with 33 solid proposals from 44 expressions of interest. This shows that there is a strong appetite for innovation and investment in the end-of-life tyre sector onshore.
The applications were screened and scored, and recommendations made to the Tyrewise Grants Committee which submitted their final recommendations to the Auto Stewardship New Zealand Board. Notifications and funding agreements for signing are due in 2026.
Other highlights
Over 1,100 site visits were carried out – the highest of the year.
Two new public collection sites were added during the reporting period – in Rotorua and Te Awamutu, growing the total to 103.
Work on establishing collection sites in Southland and Gisborne/Wairoa is ongoing.
Of note is three tonnes of end-of-life tyres were collected from Great Barrier Island during the reporting period.
Only two compliance issues and three complaints were logged during this period.
The takeback network reports very high levels of satisfaction with the service provided by Tyrewise transport partners. The average score was 9.4 out of 10, based on a field visit questionnaire. This reflects strong service from our transport partners in a competitive market.
