The new law, the Scrap Tire Environmental Quality Act, calls for the removal of the state’s scrap tire piles and supports programs that make recycled tires into marketable commodities.
The Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA), Washington, has worked closely with the Alabama Scrap Tire Study Commission to promote the development and passage of new scrap tire legislation.
“Alabama is taking an aggressive approach to managing their scrap tire issues,” John Falardeau, RMA state legislative manager, says. “This new law will collect funds for pile abatement, tire recycling and also will penalize offenders.”
The new law creates a public/private partnership, calling for the Environmental Management Department, Economic and Community Affairs Department, Revenue Department, and Scrap Tire Study Commission to cooperatively administer and enforce the program.
The bill’s provisions address tire pile cleanups, strict enforcement and penalties. The bill also contains important language calling for scrap tire market development.
The new law establishes a dedicated fund to pay for cleanups and private market development grants. A scrap tire environmental fee of $1 per tire will be collected at the point of sale on replacement tires and be remitted to the Department of Revenue.
The Alabama Scrap Tire Study Commission, created in 1999 and comprised of public and private interest stakeholders, studies the scrap tire management issues in the state and recommends long-term solutions. The Commission spent the last four years studying and analyzing the state scrap tire situation and determined that there are 15-20 million tires in dumps across Alabama.
“The passage of this bill is a successful conclusion to the Commission’s diligent work to define and recommend scrap tire management solutions for Alabama,” Falardeau says.
Nationwide, the United States produces approximately 281 million scrap tires annually, with more than 75 percent of those tires going to end use markets. The use of scrap tires in end use markets has soared from 11 percent to 77 percent since 1990.