The cost of tyres is to increase slightly following the introduction of tighter controls on the disposal of waste tyres last week.
Motorists will be asked to pay approximately €2 per tyre when they bring their cars in for a re-fit to cover the cost of leaving the worn tyres with retailers.
From next year tyre sellers must, by law, dispose of tyres using authorised waste collectors only and provide details to a new agency.
The new waste tyre regulations unveiled by Minister for the Environment John Gormley will come into force from January 1st, 2008. Similar costs are already imposed when consumers buy electronic goods and dispose of their old appliances, under the WEEE, introduced in July 2005.
President of the Irish Tyre Industry Association (ITIA), Jack Farrell, said the small additional cost was an inevitable and small price worth paying so that tyres were disposed of in the correct manner by tyre retailers.
"The consumer will pay the tyre shop for taking the waste tyres. This is happening already in many places. It is the environmental era we are in," he told The Irish Times.
He said the tyre industry has been working towards the introduction of the new rules for about three years.
Consumers will be shown the small disposal charge on their invoice when they purchase new tyres for their vehicle, said Mr Farrell.
"The retailers will in future only be allowed to use permitted collectors," he added. "A bit more attention will be paid to recycling and the handling of waste tyres. There are new disciplines attached for retailers."
The rules will mean data on tyres will have to be passed by manufacturers, retreaders, remoulders, wholesalers and importers to the newly established Tyre Recovery Activity Compliance Scheme (Tracs). Tyre suppliers will have to show they have disposed of waste tyres using authorised collectors only. Tracs will in turn provide the data on waste tyres to local authorities and report periodically to the Government through the Department of the Environment. Tracs is a non-profit making group, and has been established and funded by tyre producers. Mr Farrell said "a lot of work has to be done in communicating all this to members. Everybody has to register".
The new regulations have been put in place to deal with the estimated 35,000 tonnes of waste tyres that are generated in Ireland every year.
Approximately three million tyres are placed on the market in the Republic annually.
Discussion has taken place between the tyre industry and the Department of the Environment. Discussions have also taken place with farming groups, so that farmers will still be able to use waste tyres to anchor silage covers.
Recycled tyres can be used for soft surfaces in playgrounds, as equine bedding or on football pitches. Steel recovered from waste tyres is also a valuable resource.
