Protecting Public Health and Unleashing American Energy by Facilitating Scrap Tire Pile Cleanups

EPA is proposing to increase protection of public health and recover valuable energy resources by designating all scrap tires combusted in cement kilns as non-waste fuel, instead of limiting fuel use to tires collected in established tire collection programs. In addition, EPA is proposing to revise the definition of “established tire collection program” to include programs that recover abandoned scrap tires from piles. These proposed revisions are amendments to the Non-Hazardous Secondary Materials (NHSM) regulations, which establish standards for identifying whether non-hazardous secondary materials are solid wastes when used as fuels or ingredients in combustion units.