Not a question of public morals, as you might have thought, but of exhaustible natural resources etc..
This corporation claims to hold the "holy grail" of the rubber industry, the ability to de-vulcanize rubber, permitting its recycling. There was no escaping their four-page, up-front advert in the latest FP today. Evidently it's a Malaysian company.
In para. 7.207 of its Report, the Brazil-Tyres Panel noted that
"as regards devulcanization, which according to Brazil is the only true recycling method with respect to Tyres, Brazil claims that it is cost-prohibitive, results in pollution, and produces poor-quality rubber with limited demand and applications. Therefore, according to Brazil, tyre rubber devulcanization is not a feasible alternative for the disposal of huge volumes of tyre wastes. Although we do not find evidence showing that devulcanization or other forms of chemical or thermal transformation such as pyrolisis pose substantial health or environmental risks, most of the evidence indicates, as submitted by Brazil, that under current market conditions, the economic viability of these options has yet to be demonstrated."
Hence, de-vulcanization was not considered a reasonably available alternative to Brazil's measures by the Panel. This was essentially upheld by the AB in para. 175 of its report ("Material recycling applications are costly, and hence capable of disposing of only a limited number of waste tyres. We also note that some of them might require advanced technologies and know-how that are not readily available on a large scale. Accordingly, we are of the view that the Panel did not err in concluding that material recycling is not a reasonably available alternative to the Import Ban").
It would be wonderful if de-vulcanization would turn into a reality, and become a true "reasonably available alternative". But the reports are that Mel Gibson has invested in the venture, casting some doubt on the prospect...
T.
