Tyres are being used at a Whangarei manufacturing plant to make cement.

The Golden Bay Cement plant opened today being upgraded to use old tyres for the plant's kiln instead of coal.

The $25 million project is a Fletcher Building initiative, but had a $16 million Government injection through the Waste Minimisation Fund.

Fletcher boss Ross Taylor told Heather du Plessis-Allan tyres are a cleaner fuel source than coal.

"These burn above 1000 degrees Celsius. So what happens in that situation is they're completely consumed."

Taylor says it burns at such a high heat there's no black smoke, and less carbon dioxide is produced compared with coal.

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