SACRAMENTO, Calif. (July 1, 2013) — The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery is seeking comments from tire recycling stakeholders on the draft of its "California Waste Tire Market Report—2012."
July 11 is the deadline for sending comments about the draft, according to Terry Leveille, president of TL & Associates and legislative representative to the California Tire Dealers Association.
The draft report was prepared for CalRecycle by the consulting firm SAIC, assisted by DK Enterprises, Mr. Leveille said.
Among other things, according to Mr. Leveille, the draft report estimates that 45 million California waste tires were managed in 2012, of which 41.7 million, or 92.7 percent, were diverted from landfills.
However, 13 million passenger tire equivalents (PTEs) were exported overseas as waste tires, while another 1.8 million PTEs were exported as used tires, the report said.
Among in-state uses for California waste tires, the largest were rubberized asphalt (4.4 million tires), retreads (4 million tires) and used tires (3.3 million), according to the report.
The figures on waste tire exports have a high level of uncertainty because of the rapid rise of waste tire flow to exporters and abrupt market changes in late 2012, Mr. Leveille quotes the report as saying. "However, we still believe the results are within the plus-or-minus 10 percent range," the report's authors said.
Also, some California tire processors are concerned about out-of-state competition, according to the report.
"It is undisputed that large quantities of imported ground rubber are available in California at prices that are competitive, if not lower, than that of California suppliers in some cases," it said.
Comments on the draft report should be sent to [email protected], according to Mr. Leveille. The subject lines on comments should read, "Comments on Market Report 2012."
The final report should be issued in late July or early August, he said.