Scrapped tyre project costs council €126k

Around 3,500 tonnes of used tyres that were acquired by state agencies for a research project that went flat have been shipped to Asia for disposal — at a cost of more than €126,000 to the taxpayer.

Hundreds of thousands of the end-of-life tyres were acquired to be used in an experiment to determine if the light rubber material would be effective as “fill” on the country’s roads, in particular roads over peat and bogs.

However, when funding for the research project, which was conceived during the Celtic Tiger years, dried up, Galway County Council was left with the spare tyres — and the disposal bill.

The tyres were stored for years in local authority warehouses in Galway.

Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that some 1,431 tonnes of tyres were removed and disposed of at New Inn, Ballinasloe.

A further 2,000 tonnes of tyres have been removed from a site in Tonabrucky in the city but have yet to be disposed of.

The documents reveal that the amount paid for removing the 3,431 tonnes of tyres was just over €126,000.

It is estimated that there is between 80 and 100 tyres per tonne, which would suggest about 300,000 tyres in total were in the consignments.

In addition to the disposal costs, the council paid €686.34 on security costs to “guard” the consignments, which were a potential fire hazard.

The local authority explained: “Galway County Council, as part of an agreement with NUI Galway, National Roads Authority and Department of Environment and Local Government carried out a research project on the use of lightweight fill on roads over peat. End-of-life tyres were identified as a potential source of this lightweight material. This material was sourced, at no cost, from an end-of-life tyre disposal company.

“Baled tyres were delivered to Galway County Council sites. These bales were used in four different sites and it was intended to continue with the research but due to funding restrictions it was not possible to continue, which left a surplus of tyres.”

A Laois-based company, Agnail Limited, won the tender for the contract which was publicly advertised.

The tyres are now destined for Kumho Petrochemical recovery facility in Seoul, South Korea.