Perth-based company Tytec Recycling today announced a new recycling process for tyres used in mining and agriculture.

Tytec chairman Brett Fennell said the company had been spent the past nine years searching for a way to efficiently recycle off the road (OTR) tyres.

“There are plenty of ways to break down tyres but none of them are effective for OTR tyres,” said Mr Fennell.

The existing recycling process requires multiple steps that include removing the steel beading from tyres and shredding the tyres down.

But according to Mr Fennell, the destructive distillation process launched by Tytec Recycling allows for an OTR tyre to be converted to steel, diesel oil and carbon in one step.

“We’re using continuous heating technology that’s incredibly energy efficient and results in extremely low emissions,” he said.

Most used OTR tyres are stacked in Environmental Protection Authority approved areas around mine sites or buried under mining dumps.

Conservation Council of WA spokesperson Simone van Hattem welcomed the recycling initiative but pointed out that tyres were made from oil, a non-renewable fossil fuel.

“While we welcome recycling of waste that would otherwise end up in landfill, CCWA would prefer to see the responsibility on producers for this waste, and see the development of new products that are not made from fossil fuels,” she said.

Tytec Recycling plans to begin OTR recycling in June 2016 and aims to open a purpose-built recycling centre in Perth by January 2017.