Brakes applied on tyre stash

Te Rino and Jennifer Rapana have been told to stop putting used tyres on the property they lease in Wanganui's Brunswick Rd.

Horizons Regional Council environmental protection officer Stuart Standen, in a letter dated July 3, said the number of tyres at the rural Wanganui site had grown from the 4500 there in October last year.

Mr Rapana has been active around the district, collecting tyres on a large trailer, and has said he intends to set up a tyre recycling business.

Mr Standen's letter required the couple, trading as Farmcorp Ltd, to send formal documents to Horizons by yesterday, confirming how the tyres would be recycled.

The work would need specialised and expensive equipment, and the Rapanas are also required to apply for funding to the July 16 round of the Ministry for the Environment's Waste Minimisation Fund, then let Horizons know that the application has been made.

If the company is not successful in getting funding to recycle the tyres, Mr Standen said it had two options - it could either apply to Horizons for resource consent to store tyres on the site, or remove them and dispose of them at an approved facility.

The second option could be expensive - tyres have to be shredded before going to landfill, and it costs $9 to leave a car tyre at Wanganui's Gilberd St transfer station, and even more to leave a tractor or truck tyre.

Brunswick Rd neighbours say they want the tyres gone.

They fear environmental effects, and say the tyres are untidy and lower property values. Horizons councillor Bob Walker has said it could cost thousands for ratepayers to dispose of them.

Mr Rapana has previously told the Chronicle he was collecting the tyres with the aim of recycling them to make a product with many uses.

His wife would not answer any questions on Thursday.

The Rapanas' business adviser is working on a feasibility study and said if a business model was established the recycling could work.