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 tire piles are cleaned up while 96% of tires discarded in 2013 were reused in several markets. According to the RMA, the U.S. generates more than 230 million scrap tires every year.

The RMA report also found a reduction of 925 million units since 1990 in scrap tire stockpiles and a growth in scrap tire markets. In 2013, 95% of scrap tires were consumed by markets whereas in 1990, just 10% of scrap tires were consumed, according to the report.

The top three scrap tire markets – tire derived fuel, ground rubber and civil engineering – consumed 86% of annually generated tires in 2013, added RMA.
Colorado and Texas stockpiled the most scrap tires – a combined 46 million of the 75 million tires 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 tire management program.

“Ongoing scrap tire management efforts in the U.S. have been tremendously successful,” said Dan Zielinski, RMA senior vice president, public affairs. “Tire manufacturers have worked across the nation to help establish effective state scrap tire management programs, often funded by user fees on tire sales, to enforce regulations, clean up tire piles and promote environmentally sound, cost-effective markets for scrap tires. The numbers tell the story: the effort is paying off in a cleaner environment.”