HOUSE BILL REPORT

ESB 6720

As Amended by the House

BYSenators Metcalf and Madsen

Providing for the management of waste tires.

House Committe on Environmental Affairs

Majority Report:  Do pass with amendments.  (10)

      Signed by Representatives Rust, Chair; Valle, Vice Chair; Ferguson, Jesernig, May, Pruitt, Schoon, D. Sommers, Unsoeld and Walker.

House Staff:Bonnie Austin (786-7107)

AS PASSED HOUSE MARCH 6, 1988

BACKGROUND:

The Department of Ecology (Ecology) estimates that 4 million waste tires are generated in Washington each year.  Although approximately 1.5 million of these tires are retreaded or reprocessed into a usable oil, the other 2.5 million tires are disposed of in privately owned tire piles or landfills.

Waste tire piles pose several potential public health and environmental hazards.  First, tire piles are excellent breeding grounds for mosquitos.  The shallow pools of water that collect in tires are warmed by the sunlight absorbed by the tire, creating a hospitable environment for mosquito eggs.  Rodents also thrive in tire piles.  Second, fires in tire piles produce hazardous emissions and are very difficult to extinguish.  For example, the EPA recently spent over $1.2 million of federal Superfund money cleaning up after one waste tire pile fire that burned for over two months in Virginia.

Waste tires also pose landfill problems.  Unless the tires are buried very carefully, they tend to rise up through the soil. To avoid this problem, whole tires must be buried very deeply, mixed with other waste, or buried at widely spaced intervals. Because of the difficulties, many landfills will not accept tires.  Other landfills charge a tipping fee ranging from $.05 to $3.00 per tire.  This has lead to the illegal dumping of tires.

In 1985 this state passed legislation to promote tire recycling. This legislation prohibited the unauthorized disposal of tires and assessed a twelve hundredths of one percent (0.12 percent) tax on the sale of new replacement tires.  On a $75.00 tire, this amounts to $.09 per tire.  The revenue from this tax is placed into the Vehicle Tire Recycling Account and is used to fund: (1) A public information program on recycling and proper disposal of waste tires; and (2) Tire pile cleanup grants.

In 1987 Oregon enacted comprehensive waste tire legislation. This legislation banned the disposal of whole waste tires in landfills, required storage site permits for piles in excess of 100 tires, required licenses of waste tire carriers, imposed permit fees to recover administrative and monitoring/inspection costs, authorized the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to cleanup tires piles and recover cleanup costs, imposed civil penalties, and established a retail sales tax of $1.00 per tire on new replacement tires.

SUMMARY:

A Waste Tire Advisory Committee is established to develop a report addressing the problem of waste tires within the state. The report must address the adequacy of current waste tire programs, the geographical distribution and number of existing tire dumps and collection sites, possible financial responsibility requirements for tire collectors and processors, alternative measures of collecting waste tires, options for recycling, methods to establish reliable sources of waste tires for users, the feasibility of using waste tires as a fuel source, and the establishment of a waste tire collection system.

The Waste Tire Advisory Committee will consist of representatives of cities, counties, tire dealers, tire processors, interested citizens, owners or operators of tire disposal sites, and the Departments of Ecology, Community Development, and Transportation. The Committee will report to the legislature by December 1, 1988.  Ecology will provide staff support for the Committee.

Money in the Vehicle Tire Recycling Account may be spent to fund this study.  When spending money in the account, Ecology must identify communities with the most severe tire problem and provide funds first to those communities to remove accumulations of waste tires.

Any person who transports waste tires or stores more than eight hundred waste tires must be licensed by Ecology. Violations of licensing provisions are punishable as a gross misdemeanor. Businesses are prohibited from entering into contracts with unlicensed transporters or storage site operators.

Fiscal Note:      Available.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Senator Ken Madsen; Larry O'Neill; Harold Holm.

House Committee - Testified Against:      None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For:    The current program is inadequate to deal with the tire disposal problem in the state. There is a need for more information so that the Department of Ecology can better deal with the problem.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None Presented.