A former working group is exasperated to see the Government starting from scratch to tackle waste and recycle tires.
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has announced a new work programme to tackle waste, despite one being drawn up years ago.
Group member David Vinsen says all the new Government needs to do is dust it off.
"Once they do that, everything else falls into place - they can just say, 'Yes, we can turn this on'."
With more than 4 million tyres disposed of each year in New Zealand, action is urgent.
At the moment the vehicle owner pays a $5 levy to the retailer, say a tyre shop. They hold on to that $5 and use it to pay the recycler when they turn up to take away all the tyre shop's old tyres.
But there's scope for fake recyclers to scam the system.
"In one case, there were close to a million tyres dumped on a Waikato farm, I think gang-related, so close to a million tyres at five bucks a pop,' Mr Vinsen says.
In 2011, the National government asked industry members to find a solution and they did.
Their answer was for a $5 levy to be paid by the importer to a trust when the tyre arrives in the country. That money would fund an organised pick-up and drop-off system for all used tyres, and businesses would then bid for the supply of those tyres to use them in innovative ways.
"They could grind them up and use them in roading material, they can use them in fuel for making concrete or making power," Mr Vinsen says.
Despite thinking the plan had the green light from Government, the group was blindsided when it was dropped suddenly.
The lack of action means the piles of tyres just keep growing.
The group is worried the Green Party's newly announced programme is going to mean starting from scratch.
"They'll be talking about to the same people about the same thing, and they'll get the same outcome - when in fact what they have now is a turn-key solution," says Mr Vinsen.
The Government has assured Newshub the old tyre-wise proposal is on their radar, but says there's a process they have to go through before tyres can be declared a 'priority product' - including consultation with the public and Cabinet.
Newshub.
