Properly managed scrap tires aren't solid waste, EPA rules

ERJ staff report (TB)

Washington, DC -- Whole and shredded scrap tyres aren't solid waste under Clean Air Act regulations when managed by established tire collection programs run by states or other entities, the US Environmental Protection Agency has determined in final rules issued 23 Feb.

“These collection programs ensure that the scrap tyres are not discarded en route to the combustor for use as a fuel and are handled as a valuable commodity,” the EPA stated in the standard defining which non-hazardous materials are to be treated as solid waste and which are not.

“These established tyre collection programs, together with state bans on landfilling in most states, effectively result in the beneficial reuse of tyres (as fuel or used in other scrap tyre markets) as the sole end use option for scrap tyres in those states.”

Tyres coming from such programs may be processed at the user's discretion and burned as a non-waste fuel, the EPA said. But discarded tyres (that is, those from tyre dumps) must be processed according to the methods set forth in the final rule-including metal removal-before they can be burned as non-waste fuel.

This is good news for the tyre recycling industry, which feared that tyre-derived fuel might be defined as solid waste and made subject to the stringent control rules governing solid waste incinerators, making it economically non-competitive compared with other fuels.

This rule, which goes into effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, is part of a massive set of regulations establishing new Clean Air Act control standards for industrial boilers and solid waste incinerators.

According to an EPA press release, the final rules cut the cost of compliance by $1.8 billion (Euro 1307 million), or about 50 percent, from the proposed rules issued in April 2010. The resulting reductions in toxic air emissions will prevent 4,100 heart attacks, 42,000 asthma attacks and between 2,600 and 6,600 premature deaths annually in 2014, when the new rules go fully into effect, the agency said.

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From Tire Business (A Crain Publication)