2002 Annual Report: Waste Tires and Special Waste

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• Five-Year Plan
• Tire Manifesting
• Tire Grants
• Remediation of Illegal Sites
• Household Hazardous Waste Grants
• Used Oil Block Grants
• Used Oil Opportunity Grants
• Used Oil Nonprofit Grants
• Used Oil Research, Testing, and Demonstration Grants
• Used Oil Education and Outreach
• Other Household Hazardous Waste Developments

Five-Year Plan
In May 2003 the Board is expected to approve the second edition of the five-year plan for its waste tire recycling management program as required by PRC 42885.5 (Chapter 838, Statues of 2000). The revised plan will include the following elements, with funding allocations and performance criteria for each:

• Enforcement and regulations on waste and used tires storage.
• Cleanup, abatement, or other remedial actions of tire stockpiles.
• Research on alternatives to the landfill disposal of tires.
• Market development and new technology for used and waste tires.
• The waste and used tires hauler program and manifest system.

The main focus of the waste tire program in 2002/2003 is to implement provisions of the five-year plan addressing enforcement efforts at waste tire facilities and on waste tire hauling companies, managing various contracts for research and remediation of waste tire sites, and awarding and administering grants under the Board’s seven grant programs.

Tire Manifesting
A major element of the waste tire plan is the development and implementation of a waste tire manifest tracking and monitoring system. The Board presented a draft manifest system at four public workshops in 2001 for affected parties. Regulations and a final format were tested and adopted in 2002 and training of waste tire haulers on the use of the new manifest form will occur in 2003.

Tire Grants
The Board approved awards of more than $8.7 million under the seven grant programs as described in the waste tire plan for fiscal year 2002-03. These awards included:

• Waste tire cleanup grants.
• Waste tire enforcement grants.
• Local government waste tire education and amnesty day grants.
• Tire product commercialization and applied technologies grants.
• Waste tire track and other recreational surfacing grants.
• Waste tire playground cover grants.
• Energy recovery from tires grants.

Remediation of Illegal Sites
Two of California’s largest illegal waste tire piles, the Filbin tire fire site in Westley and the Royster tire fire site in Tracy, continued to receive Board attention in 2002. These sites are symbolic of the struggle to manage California’s annual toll of 33 million waste tires. Both piles were the scenes of catastrophic tire fires that occurred when environmental and fire safety regulations were ignored.
The remediation of the Filbin tire fire site was completed in the fall of 2002. In 2003 the Board will continue working with the Office of the Attorney General to recover the $17 million expended by the Board in remediating this Westley-area site.

Working with U.S. EPA and other Cal/EPA agencies, the Board completed a site characterization plan to identify the extent of contamination from oil and ash residues at the Royster tire fire site in Tracy. In 2003 the Board plans to continue working with these agencies to develop a remedial action plan (RAP) for the Tracy-area site. The agencies anticipate completing the RAP in June 2003; actual remediation of the Tracy site could begin as early as July 2003. The five-year plan approved by the Board allocates $7 million over the next three years for the remediation of this site.

Household Hazardous Waste Grants
In August 2002, the Board awarded $3 million in fiscal year 2002-03 household hazardous waste grants to 15 local governments. This funding helps local agencies deal with the proper management of household hazardous wastes. Priority was given to grantees that proposed to expand existing programs or initiate new programs to include collection of electronics waste (e-waste), universal waste (u-waste), or paint.

Used Oil Block Grants
The Board awarded $16.2 million to local jurisdictions in 2002 to implement used oil collection and recycling programs. These noncompetitive grants are based on population and are available to all California cities and counties.

Used Oil Opportunity Grants
In April 2002 the Board awarded $5.1 million in used oil opportunity grants to 18 local governments. The funding helps local governments build the necessary infrastructure to expand their used oil recycling activities. Priority was given to grantees intent on establishing new programs, or expanding existing ones, to include the collection of used oil and/or filters from curbside, boaters, or agricultural sources.

Used Oil Nonprofit Grants
In October 2002 the Board approved the used oil nonprofit grants scoring criteria and evaluation process for fiscal year 2002-03. Preference will be given to grantees who use social marketing techniques to replace or supplement traditional media-based publicity and education methods to promote collection of used oil and/or filters; target underserved populations for the collection of used oil and/or filters; initiate new programs or support existing used oil/filter programs for boaters, agricultural sources, stormwater mitigation, or promotion of re-refined oil; and to applicants who did not receive a grant during the prior nonprofit cycle. Approximately $3.5 million will be available. The Board expects to award the grants in April 2003.

Used Oil Research, Testing, and Demonstration Grants
In December 2002, the Board approved the used oil research, testing, and demonstration grants scoring criteria and evaluation process for fiscal year 2002-03. Preference will be given to grantees able to provide matching funds of 10 percent and who partner with other agencies to take a multi-jurisdictional approach, as well as to projects that accomplish the following:

• Develop a technique, process, market, or product not already available in California, which utilizes re-refined motor oil.
• Involve independent third-party evaluation of storm drain inlet filter devices relating to stormwater pollution from used oil.
• Enhance the development and effectiveness of equipment designed to recover oil from oily water.
• Develop cost-effective field test kits for identifying PCB in motor oil.
• Develop a strategy to establish a pilot program for collecting used oil from independent truckers.

Approximately $2 million will be available. The Board expects to award the grants in June 2003.

Used Oil Education and Outreach
Research conducted by the Public Research Institute (PRI) of San Francisco State University spurred the Board to refocus its used oil recycling outreach efforts. PRI determined that approximately 19 percent of California’s population is at-home mechanics who change their own vehicle motor oil. Most of these mechanics are males between the ages of 18 and 39, whose most common public activity is attending organized sporting events. In response to this research data, the Board redirected its 2002 used oil recycling outreach towards sports venues where at-home mechanics congregate.

The Board advertised used oil recycling at 11 minor league baseball parks throughout California in 2002 and surveyed the attendees. During the baseball season, the Board’s used oil recycling message was broadcast to more than 1.6 million sports fans through signage at ballparks, public service announcements on local radio stations, and ads in pocket schedules. Survey results at the ballparks indicate that 23 percent of attendees were at-home mechanics.

The Board continued its used oil recycling outreach campaign at three large regional raceways. In the next fiscal year, the Board plans to expand its used oil recycling marketing to local speedways, hockey and soccer stadiums, and throughout the minor league baseball stadiums.

PRI is further analyzing its survey data to better define the at-home mechanic target audience and determine better strategies for communicating the used oil recycling message. This additional analysis will yield a more accurate estimate of the number of at-home mechanics in California and delineate improved methodologies for obtaining such estimates.

To close the used oil recycling loop, the Board actively encouraged public and private fleet managers to purchase re-refined oil in 2002. This fiscal year, the Board will examine the barriers to the sale and purchase of re-refined oil by fleet managers and hold statewide workshops to promote the purchase of re-refined oil to this audience. The Board will also provide its database of local re-refined oil distributors to fleet managers to facilitate their purchase of re-refined oil in the future. At its annual Used Oil Forum, the Board provided training in community-based social marketing to used oil grantees from throughout the state. Grantees are already using these strategies to boost sustainable used oil recycling behavior in their communities.

Other Household Hazardous Waste Developments
In September 2002, Governor Davis signed AB 2474, Simitian (Chapter 998, Statutes of 2002), to protect the public from the dangers associated with antifreeze containing ethylene glycol. Board staff provided technical assistance to Assemblyman Simitian’s office on this legislation.

This legislation was introduced in an attempt to reduce the severity of poisoning exposures in California, particularly to children and animals. The addition of a bittering agent is expected to lessen the severity of exposures in and around dwellings, and protect public safety and wildlife.

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