New Zealand’s Hamilton City Council last year, entered a deal with a company called Eco Vision to help remove a 150,000 unit tyre stockpile in Frankton. However, revelations that EcoVision has an undischarged bankrupt in a senior management role, according to the New Zealand Herald, has brought the project to a halt.

Tyre Stockpile Blocked by New Zealand Authorities

A council spokesman said a $248,900 contract was signed with EcoVersion to remove the stockpile for later processing, but added nothing had yet been paid.

The council acknowledged it was aware of the 2003 bankruptcy of Alan Merrie, whom it described as the company’s principal, when signing the deal but acknowledged it was only newspaper inquiries that made it aware that the firm’s development manager, Alan Copsey, was an undischarged bankrupt.

The council insisted it had undertaken due diligence and found “EcoVersion had the capacity to complete the contract”.

However, the Kawerau District Council found problems in the deal when a tyre mountain sprang up overnight as EcoVersion began building a new stockpile of used rubber – from Frankton and elsewhere – on council land.

Councillor Rex Savage said he became concerned when told of night-time deliveries adding to the mountain, now estimated to contain around 200,000 tyres.

Mr Savage called a meeting with EcoVersion, where the council was told by Mr Merrie that a processing plant was being built with parts from China and processing of the stockpile would begin later in the year. But before this happened, the pile would grow to nearly a million tyres, Mr Savage said.

He said the depot was locked by the council over fears the tyre mountain might become a semi-permanent blot on the landscape. “The worry is we’ll never get rid of these tyres.”

Back in Frankton, only half of the pile has been removed, and the Hamilton City Council confirmed that EcoVersion had until the end of this month to complete the job.