The Tire Industry Association (TIA) has joined a coalition of industry experts in submitting comments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about proposed tire-derived fuel (TDF) rulemaking.
For more information about the proposed rulemaking, click here.
According to TIA officials, the proposal has the potential to identify scrap tires, plus many other materials, as solid waste, "which would require users of TDF to operate as commercial and industrial solid waste incinerators.
"This would have a negative effect on recycling, as TDF-burning facilities would be regulated under the far more stringent Section 129 emissions regulations in the Clean Air Act, which necessitates the revamping or replacing of current combustion units. It is believed that most of these units would choose to reject TDF and other secondary materials newly labeled as solid waste and just burn traditional fuels."
"Restricting the TDF applications will change the economic balance for all tire material and could potentially create the situation we faced in previous years, where many more tires were disposed of in landfills," notes past TIA President Dick Gust, who also serves as co-chair of TIA's Environmental Advisory Council.
"While the industry is working very hard to secure more high-end markets for tire-derived material like mulch or crumb rubber that can be used in a variety of valuable products, TDF remains a very valuable and beneficial market for consuming the millions of (scrap) tires that are generated on an annual basis."
