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Monday, December 29, 1997

State's tire recycling program ends with the year

By ANNA M. TINSLEY

Scripps Howard Austin Bureau

AUSTIN - Texas' tire-recycling program, which cleaned up more than 600 illegal tire dumps since 1992, ends Wednesday amid fears it will hurt the state's environment.

The controversial action has raised concerns from lawmakers who say it is giving control of recycling efforts to out-of-state firms and from environmentalists who fear new illegal dumps will serve as breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitoes.

But supporters of ending the program believe its demise opens opportunities for recyclers who have developed new ways to use shredded tires.

For years, millions of worn-out tires filled pits dug deep in the ground on deserted Texas lots, remote farmland and backyards.

State officials began a program to clean up the dumps in 1992 - and recycle used tires. The program expires Dec. 31 as dictated by state lawmakers earlier this year.

Some say eliminating state control means disposal costs will fluctuate. Others fear illegal tire dumps will spring up again if Texans don't pay to recycle their old tires.

"There's no question that some illegal dumping will occur," said Mark Vickery, manager of Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission's waste tire program. "But I don't believe it will ever reach the level it was occurring before the program started."

That's because a large market for recycled tires has developed in the past few years, he said.

Ten years ago, the main use for shredded tire chips was in landfills, serving as lining to keep garbage from sinking into the soil.

Now, those chips are being used in everything from fence posts and shoe soles to shingles and traffic barriers, said Kay Knapp, executive director of Austin-based Texas Tire Dealers and Retreaders Association.

Playground material, road construction and landscape mulch are other popular uses for tire shreds.

Knapp said the end of the state's tire recycling program opens up a number of opportunities.

"It's going to be wonderful because recycling tires will now go to free enterprise. That means less restrictions and more creativity," Knapp said.

But Knapp said all Texans need to guard against "tire jockeys" - people who pick up tires, sell the reusable ones and leave the rest in ditches.

"In the past, 'tire jockeys' would pick up tires, get paid to haul them off and go around the corner and sort tires," Knapp said. "They'd resell the good ones and pitch the rest. That's how the dumps got started."

Those dumps raised public health concerns statewide.

According to the American and Texas Mosquito Control Associations, illegal tire dumps produce at least four species of mosquitoes that transmit serious diseases that cause human disease and deaths in Texas.

"There were large pits full of tires - tens of thousands of tires in some cases," TNRCC's Vickery said. "There were instances where the illegal dump sites were on property where the landowners didn't know or didn't know any better. Then word got out on where to dump tires, and tires started to accumulate."

The state's tire recycling program was started to clean up almost 900 of those illegal tire dumps around the state.

More than 600 of those - containing nearly 20 million used tires - have been cleaned up, Vickery said.

Over the past year, the tire recycling rate in Texas was 94 percent. In the first six months of 1997, more than 208 million pounds of scrap tire material were diverted to recycling markets.

Under the state's program, each time a new tire was bought in Texas, the disposal fee was $2 for a new automobile tire, $3.50 for a new truck tire and $1 for each used tire, TNRCC records show.

That money went to make sure that used tires were collected and recycled.

As of Jan. 1, that fee will be gone.

Instead, tire dealers may add a fee to the price of tires they sell to pay for the delivery of tires to a recycler or disposal facility. The amount of the fee is solely at the dealer's discretion and not regulated by the state.

Knapp said prices will vary from one region of the state to another.

"In Houston, it will cost less than in Muleshoe because there's more recycling being done in Houston," Knapp said. "Two dollars will be rule of thumb, but it could range anywhere from $1-$3 on passenger tires and $3-$5 on truck tires."

No estimate on used tires was available.

Earlier this year, lawmakers ended the state's participation in the tire recycling program, saying they wanted a market-driven program in which the state's role was limited.

Opponents said ending the program would destroy everything put in place since the Waste Tire Recycling Program began. Especially because out-of-state tire recyclers supported the legislation.

"It's a new concept. It goes in a new direction. It makes a new set of kings. It makes tire czars of out-of-state people," said state Rep. David Counts, D-Knox City, an opponent of the legislation and co-sponsor of a House bill to continue the current program.

State Sen. Buster Brown, R-Lake Jackson and author of the bill ending the state's participation in recycled tires, said the legislation will do more to rid the state of unused and abandoned tires than the current system.

"This will take Texas out of the tire business," Brown said. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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