Tyre Stewardship Australia Sustainability Profile

Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA) is a not-for-profit product steward for used tyres in Australia. It says its job is to reduce the environmental, health, and safety impacts of end-of-life tyres and to grow a circular economy, which means keeping materials in use for longer instead of sending them to waste. TSA works with industry, government, researchers, and communities through accreditation, compliance, research, market development, education, and engagement. It also supports the use of tyre-derived material in new products and infrastructure, such as roads. The content shows a strong focus on waste reduction, recycling, and better management across the tyre supply chain.

Positive Sentiment Found
Public coverage in the scraped material is broadly positive about TSA’s role in building a tyre circular economy. TSA is described as Australia’s tyre product steward and as an ACCC-authorised industry framework, which means the competition regulator has approved the scheme. The Weibold article says TSA has around 1,700 accredited participants and has invested up to $10 million in market development, which suggests a large and active program. It also highlights TSA tools such as the Foreign End Market Verification platform, described as the only global platform that checks whether Australian end-of-life tyres are causing environmental or social harm at their final destination, plus a Sustainable Outcomes Indicator star rating and a Circular Economy Collaborator platform. These signals point to a structured system with independent policy backing and practical tools for reuse and traceability.

Common Criticisms:
The main criticism in the material is that Australia’s tyre system is still not recovering enough used tyres, and TSA itself says the voluntary model is not working well enough. The 2026 TSA report, covered by Weibold, says only 26% of end-of-life tyres are reused or recycled, while the rest are exported for energy recovery, landfilled, buried on-site, stockpiled, or illegally dumped. It also says 47% of replacement tyre imports and 99% of vehicle-fitted tyre imports do not pay into the stewardship levy, which creates a free-rider problem. Other concerns include rogue collectors, on-farm dumping and burning, and the burial of mining tyres despite recovery options. This is not a criticism of TSA’s own operations so much as a sign that the wider system still has major gaps in enforcement, participation, and transparency.