2000 Annual Report: Tires

This information is taken from the Board’s 1999 Waste Tire Management Program Annual Report. Information for the year 2000 will be available upon Board approval of the 2000 Waste Tire Management Program Annual Report.

California has more registered vehicles than any other state. As a result, California is faced with the challenge of diverting or safely managing more than 31 million reusable and waste tires generated annually in the state. In addition to this number, another 3 million tires are imported annually and about 2 million waste tires are already stockpiled throughout the state, posing a health and safety risk for the public. IWMB staff estimates that in 1999, about 20 million tires (65 percent) of the 31 million tires generated were diverted from stockpiling or disposal for various alternative uses, including reuse, retreading, recycling, and combustion. The remaining 11 million tires were shredded and disposed of in California’s permitted solid waste landfills, stored at permitted sites, or illegally disposed of around the state.

Currently, the recycling markets in California do not consume all of the waste tires generated. Despite nearly doubling the number of waste tires recycled in California between 1991 and 1999, the number of waste tires generated annually continues to exceed the number of tires diverted. IWMB staff estimates the rate of increase at approximately one-half million tires annually.

To address waste tire management in California, the Legislature enacted the California Tire Recycling Act (AB 1843, Brown, Chapter 974, Statutes of 1989), which promoted the recycling of the annual flow of waste tires as well as stockpiled tires. AB 1843 specified that the program promote and develop markets as an alternative to landfill disposal and stockpiling of whole tires. To accomplish these provisions, AB 1843 authorized the IWMB to award grants and loans to businesses, enterprises, and public entities involved in tire recycling activities. It also required the IWMB to develop waste tire facility regulations for the safe storage of waste tires and established a permitting system for waste tire facilities. Subsequent legislation (SB 744, McCorquodale, Chapter 511, Statutes of 1993) enacted requirements for waste tire hauler registration to ensure waste tires are legally disposed of at authorized sites.

Initially the program was funded by a $0.25 per tire fee levied for tires left at tire dealers for recycling or disposal. AB 2108 (Mazzoni, Chapter 304, Statutes of 1996) restructured the fee so that the $0.25 fee was charged for the retail purchase of new tires. In September 2000, Governor Davis signed SB 876 (Chapter 838, Statutes of 2000) by Senator Martha Escutia and Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza. The law earmarked $6.5 million annually for illegal tire site cleanup, upgraded the waste tire hauler program, stimulated market activities, and set the charge at $1.00 for each new tire sold in the state, effective January 1, 2001, including those on new vehicles. The fee is deposited quarterly in the California Tire Recycling Management Fund and appropriated to the IWMB annually by the Legislature. A five-year plan outlining the IWMB's priorities for the estimated $30 million annual budget for the tire program will be presented to the Legislature prior to July 1, 2001.

The IWMB’s waste tire management and recycling efforts are divided into two functional areas: tire permitting and enforcement activities and tire recycling and market development activities. The tire permitting and enforcement activities ensure that reusable and waste tires are stored and transported safely. Staff also coordinates with local and regional agencies to mitigate unsafe situations at existing abandoned tire pile sites and provide technical assistance. Tire recycling activities include offering financial assistance, engaging in recycling and marketing research, and providing technical assistance.