The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will continue to allow tires to be recycled by burning them as fuel by an industrial facility. Supported by SEMA, the decision preserves an important recycling option, which accounts for more than 50% of annual scrap-tire disposals. The EPA had initially ruled that the tires would be classified as solid waste, requiring the removal of metal before being burned. Paper mills, cement kilns and electric power plants are the major fuel users of recycled tires. In its final rule, the EPA still prevents whole tires previously discarded in waste tire piles from being combusted without sufficient processing.
For more information, contact Stuart Gosswein at stuartg@sema.org.