When Anwar Albatat returned to work after a two-week holiday, he was stunned by what had been left in his yard.<\/p>\n
A mountain of old tyres blocked his view of the tiny houses he makes.<\/p>\n
He had had suspicions, but it was then that the realisation fully set in.<\/p>\n
The industrial yard he rented to construct and sell homes had been used as a base for a scam.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The pile of tyres is taking up room where Mr Albatat usually builds his tiny homes. (ABC News: Roxanne Fitzgerald)<\/p>\n
Over the past six months, two Darwin businesses have been left with tonnes of tyres and a massive clean-up bill after falling victim to a tyre dumping scheme that has impacted people across Australia.<\/p>\n
“Everything seemed to be 100 per cent genuine about [the workers sharing our yard],” Mr Albatat said.<\/p>\n
“They hired people \u2026 they had their own truck.<\/p>\n
“But slowly, slowly we start to realise they were not coming here anymore.<\/p>\n
“Alarms start to come up and we start to ask, ‘What’s exactly happening with these guys?'”<\/p>\n
Mr Albatat said at the beginning of the year, his landlord rented out a portion of the yard to a new tyre recycling company called Seoul Traders, which needed space to store and recycle tyres.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Darwin business owner says the stack of abandoned tyres has left him with a costly clean-up bill. (ABC News: Roxanne Fitzgerald)<\/p>\n
Property owner Peter Kruhse said the NT Environment Protection Authority (EPA) had granted the company a licence to recycle tyres on a commercial basis, which was a requirement under Northern Territory law.<\/p>\n
“At first, they paid rent on time,” the landlord said.<\/p>\n
“Then, they pretended to pay it and they’d send me screenshots of payments \u2026 and eventually they disappeared.”<\/p>\n
He said phone calls went unanswered when he tried to chase them up, and he wasn’t able to track the tenants down.<\/p>\n
“It was a nightmare. I slogged in the sun for a month packing the tyres into stacks,” Mr Kruhse said.<\/p>\n
“No one should have to go through this heartache.”<\/p>\n
The scam targets businesses with stacks of worn tyres, offering discounted recycling services.<\/p>\n
Operators collect their payment, but then abandon the tyres at rented lots or backyards and vanish with the cash.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The property’s landlord said he “slogged in the sun for a month” stacking the discarded tyres. (ABC News: Roxanne Fitzgerald)<\/p>\n
Operator suspended<\/p>\n
In May, interstate authorities alerted the NT Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to the scam after it had taken place in other jurisdictions \u2014 sparking an investigation.<\/p>\n
The EPA went to the site to carry out an inspection on Seoul Traders, and found it was breaching a number of licence conditions.<\/p>\n
In June, the EPA suspended their licence.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Recycling tyres in the NT is an expensive process, despite a growing overseas market for the shredded rubber and steel. (ABC News: Roxanne Fitzgerald)<\/p>\n
“Seoul Traders was granted an environment protection licence in March,” a spokesperson told the ABC.<\/p>\n
“At the time of granting the licence, the NT EPA had no intelligence about an alleged scam being run.”<\/p>\n
The spokesperson said the EPA checks the business records of applicants and asks if they have held licences or committed environmental offences previously, and Seoul Traders met the basic ASIC requirements to get an ABN and operate in Australia.<\/p>\n