Arkansas lawmakers consider suggestions to improve underfunded scrap tire recycling program

Businesspeople in the scrap tire industry shared their frustrations with Arkansas’ underfunded tire recycling program and suggested some improvements Friday before a legislative panel.

By; Tess Vrbin
Arkansas Advocate

Businesspeople in the scrap tire industry shared their frustrations with Arkansas’ underfunded tire recycling program and suggested some improvements Friday before a legislative panel.

Scrap tires began to pile up in Arkansas when the recycling fund ran out of money in 2022. Despite the program’s shortfall, the governor and General Assembly have been unwilling to raise the state-mandated tire fees that support it. Those revenues haven’t kept pace with rising costs to transport and process old tires.

The state’s used tire program has faced challenges for years, and it received an overhaul in 2017 when a state law created a rim removal fee to fund the Tire Accountability Program. Customers pay a $3 fee for the removal of used tires or $1 if the tire is replaced by a used tire.

The fund, managed by the Department of Energy and Environment, is “living hand to mouth, so to speak,” said Sen. John Payton, R-Wilburn.

Payton sponsored a proposed fee increase in 2023 that did not become law. He and Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, responded with an interim study proposal for the Joint Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee to brainstorm ways to keep the program’s funding consistent.

The proposal fueled Friday’s discussion between the committee and its guest speakers, including John Dillon, a regional vice president for Liberty Tire Recycling, which operates nationwide and uses local haulers to collect tires in Arkansas.

A problem with Arkansas’ waste tire fee structure is that it is expected to fully fund the tire recycling program, while other states use it as a supplement, Dillon said.

The disposal of scrap tires is complicated. They can’t be thrown into landfills because they decompose too slowly, hold water and attract pests. There also has not traditionally been a huge market for the recycled metal and rubber in tires.

A 2023 legislative audit found that after administrative costs, $2.31 per tire returns to one of four used tire districts, which then reimburses recycling facilities for processing the material. However, each of the districts said processing costs them between $2.80 and $2.90 per tire.

Robyn Reed, director of Northwest Arkansas’ Boston Mountain Regional Solid Waste Management District, reminded the committee of this cost discrepancy. Her suggestions for bringing more money into the recycling fund were to keep the $3 tire removal fee as it is, apply it to new vehicles sold at dealerships and implement an across-the-board $30 fee for extra-large tires. There is currently no set standard fee for extra-large tires, which can cost hundreds of dollars to transport and process, Reed said.

Tire collection centers throughout the state are run on a volunteer basis, which is unsustainable, said Paige Davis, fractional chief financial officer for Little Rock-based playground equipment Davis Rubber Company.

“There’s no incentive for someone to keep up with them, to count the tires, to make sure the amount of tires that someone is putting on a manifest [list] is actually the amount of tires going into that trailer,” Davis said. “On top of that, we have actually gotten larger trailers, 53-foot box trailers, and if you don’t stack those tires correctly, you’re not going to get as many tires on them… and you have to go back and forth, and there’s going to be a lag in the system.”

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