ASSESSMENT OF PRESENT SITUATION

About 242 million automotive, truck, and off-road tires are discarded in the United States each year. This is approximately equal to one waste tire per person per year. Additionally, there are 33.5 million tires that are retreaded and an estimated 10 million that are reused each year as second-hand tires. It is estimated that 7 percent of the discarded tires are currently being recycled into new products and 11 percent are converted to energy. Nearly 78 percent are being landfilled, stockpiled, or illegally dumped, with the remainder being exported. 

Tires are difficult to landfill. Whole tires do not compact well, and they tend to work their way up through the soil to the top. As a result, tire stockpiles, which cost less thsm landfills, have sprung up all over the country. It is estimated that between 2 and 3 billion tires are stockpiled in the U.S. at present, with at least one pile containing over 30 million tires. Tire stockpiles are unsightly and are a threat to public health and safety. Not only are tire piles excellent breeding grounds for mosquitoes, but they are also fire hazards. 

It is the goal of the EPA to eliminate illegal dumping altogether and to reduce the stockpiling and landfilling of discarded tires as much as possible. The report, 

Scrap tire combustion is practiced in power plants, tire manufacturing plants, cement kilns, pulp and paper plants, and small package steam plants. 

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