The Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA) issued a report coinciding with National Recycling Week, which runs from Nov. 10-16. The report found that more than 90% of scrap tyre piles are cleaned up while 96% of tyres discarded in 2013 were reused in several markets. According to the RMA, the U.S. generates more than 230 million scrap tyres every year.
The RMA report also found a reduction of 925 million units since 1990 in scrap tyre stockpiles and a growth in scrap tyre markets. In 2013, 95% of scrap tyres were consumed by markets whereas in 1990, just 10% of scrap tyres were consumed, according to the report.
The top three scrap tyre markets – tyre derived fuel, ground rubber and civil engineering – consumed 86% of annually generated tyres in 2013, added RMA.
Colorado and Texas stockpiled the most scrap tyres – a combined 46 million of the 75 million tyres that remain in stockpiles in 2013. Colorado passed a law in 2013 to clean up its mammoth piles. Texas does not have a state scrap tyre management program.
“Ongoing scrap tyre management efforts in the U.S. have been tremendously successful,” said Dan Zielinski, RMA senior vice president, public affairs. “Tyre manufacturers have worked across the nation to help establish effective state scrap tyre management programs, often funded by user fees on tyre sales, to enforce regulations, clean up tyre piles and promote environmentally sound, cost-effective markets for scrap tyres. The numbers tell the story: the effort is paying off in a cleaner environment.”