Plan to puncture Scots tyre waste 04 | 08 | 2017

    A NEW BID to tackle the ever-increasing growth of Scotland’s waste tyres has been launched by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Entrepreneurial Scotland. Around 100 tyres become waste in Scotland every 15 minutes, according to SEPA.

    Launched at the “Global Tyre Challenge”, the new partnership will challenge entrepreneurs to find sustainable new business opportunities for waste tyres over the next five years.

    It also sets in motion an ambitious challenge for entrepreneurs to find sustainable new business opportunities for waste tyres over the next five years. Alongside this, SEPA has committed to developing a specific Sector Plan that will set targets and actions to directly tackle waste tyres and the criminal behaviours, such as illegal dumping, that the industry can attract.

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    “The most prosperous businesses in the 21st century will embed the importance of a circular economy at the heart of their operations and will be purpose driven to seek opportunities which bring profitability through environmental innovation.

    “The partnership between SEPA and Entrepreneurial Scotland taps into the most creative assets at our disposal to find some truly innovative approaches to reduce or reuse the number of waste tyres circulating in our economy,” Terry A’hearn, SEPA’s chief executive, said.

    “By working together, we have the potential to create economic opportunities that provide tangible benefits for environmental and social success in Scotland.

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    “I am hopeful that today marks the start of a unique and powerful collaboration which will help move the date of Earth Overshoot Day further back each year and in doing so make our planet more resilient for future generations.”  

    James Stuart, managing director of Entrepreneurial Scotland, said: “Partnering with SEPA is a fantastic example of how collaboration can solve real challenges and support Scotland in becoming the most entrepreneurial society in the world.

    “Our Saltire Fellows are without a doubt the right candidates to take on this challenge. In the coming months this year’s cohort will spend time at Babson College in Boston and be immersed in entrepreneurial thinking. That entrepreneurial thinking will then focus on viable solutions to combat the waste tyre challenge.”

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    The announcement came on Earth Overshoot Day for 2017, the date in the year human consumption exceeds earth's resources, meaning the world will be running at a resource deficit for the rest of the year.

    Earth Overshoot Day was devised by the New Economic Foundation think tank, and in its first year of measuring consumption, 1987, Earth Overshoot Day fell on December 19.

    Between 1990 and 2010, Earth Overshoot Day moved three calender months but slowed in the last seven years, falling on August 21 in 2010 and then easing back to August 27 in 2011 before falling again in each of the subsequent years and to August 8 last year.

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    Jim McGill

     

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