EPA Orders California Tire Recycler to Clean Up Site

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ordered Consolidated Tire Recyclers Inc. to remove excess stockpiled tires and improve fire prevention at its tire recycling facility in Mecca, Calif. If the company fails to take care of the problem, the EPA says that it may fine the company as much as $7,500 per day. The facility is located at an Indian reservation.

In a news release, Jared Blumenfeld, EPA regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest, says, “To protect the local community, including children attending nearby schools, EPA and the Tribe have taken steps to eliminate the risk of fire. As a start, EPA has ordered the facility to stop accepting any additional tires.”

The EPA’s order supports the Tribe’s action of late May 2011, when it issued the company a Notice of Violation and Order to Comply requiring the facility to better manage the tires at its facility.

The unilateral order, issued under the authority of the federal Resource Conservation & Recovery Act, follows a 2011 facility visit in which EPA, the Bureau of Indian Affairs found an estimated 90,000 tires to be an imminent fire risk. On May 17, 2011, a fire broke out in a building at the facility; no one was hurt, and the fire was contained to a shredded tire piping system.

The EPA Administrative Order against Consolidated Tire Recyclers sets forth immediate measures and a schedule to reduce the risk of fire, including:

• Ceasing receiving waste tires;
• Properly storing tires, including reducing the size of its current piles;
• Removing its waste tires currently stored at a site located across the street;
• Removing all flammable materials, including wooden pallets, from tire pile areas; and
• Upgrading the fire suppression system.

Moreinformation, including a copy of the EPA’s Administrative Order against Consolidated Tire Recyclers, is avaialble at http://www.epa.gov/region9/waste/enforcement/.