Less than four years since Ohio began implementing its scrap
tire regulations, state officials say they can account for
9 million of the 12 million scrap tires annually generated
in the state. Moreover, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) officials have registered 92 transporters who operate
about 1,200 vehicles to collect and transport Ohio's scrap
tires.
Eight-six percent of the scrap tires Ohio
EPA has managed to date have come from within Ohio, according
to Carolyn Watkins, head of the State's scrap tire regulatory
program. Of those, almost 40 percent wnet to recovery facilities,
while 38 percent went to the state's two monofills, she
said.
The biggest scrap tire recycling market in
Ohio is for granulated rubber that is used as a substitute
for gravel in landfill cell construction, Watkins said.
To date, Ohio has registered or permitted
24 scrap tire facilities and exempted two bias-ply tire
sites. It has eight existing sites, including five new ones
and 39 potential faciliites.
According to Watkins, prior to or during
1996, the state EPA oversaw the cleanup of eight scrap tire
dumps containing more than 2.2 million tires. In 1997 it
completed three cleanups totaling 390,000 tires. Since then,
it has initiated cleanups at three more sites (totalling
approximately 5.4 million scrap tires). Those cleanups are
expected to be completed this year, Watkins said.
For 1999, the Ohio EPA has targeted seven
sites, containing a total of 6 million tires , for cleanup.
All in all EPA efforts last year resulted in about 65 percent
of the states tire sbeing recycled. The cleanup program
is funded through a fifty cents per tire fee levied on the
sale of every new tire sized 12 inches and above sold in
the state. Agricultural tires are exempt.
The fee annually generates $3.5 million which
goes primarily to cleanup efforts. Under current law, Ohio's
tire fee expires in two years.
