Bowie, Md. – The Tire Industry Association (TIA) announced that it has issued a position statement on scrap tires and producer responsibility. The statement was developed by the Association’s Environmental Advisory Council (EAC).
In its statement, the Association promotes and supports a competitive, market-based system to manage the flow of scrap tires and scrap tire materials. This free enterprise system of scrap tire management is highly successful today with a scrap tire recovery rate approaching 90%.
Recently, legislation has been introduced in a few states that would shift the responsibility for managing scrap tires to the manufacturer of the product. Many of these “Extended Producer Responsibility” (EPR) or Product Stewardship bills are drafted in a way that would restrict or interfere with the free flow of scrap tires to selected markets. Establishing an extended producer responsibility system in the United States would create an additional level of management or oversight, would add costs without any significant benefit, would remove the retailer from direct negotiations with their suppliers and would replace an efficient well established free market- based system for managing scrap tires with an unproven system.
“TIA supports a competitive free market system that does not interfere with the free flow of scrap tire recyclable materials,” said TIA Executive Vice President Roy Littlefield.
In addition to the position statement, TIA has submitted comments to the Environment Committee in the State of Connecticut regarding S.B. No. 869 which would establish a tire stewardship program in the state. TIA is opposed to the bill. The Committee will hold a public hearing on the bill on Friday, February 13, 2015.