Waste Tire Pile Cleanup: 2005 through 2010

In 2005, the Washington State Legislature passed Substitute House Bill 2085, creating a Waste Tire Removal Account to fund tire pile cleanups. A $1 fee is collected for each new vehicle tire sold in Washington. This fee will be collected until July 2010.

Anyone interested in the Tire Cleanup Program should contact Kara Steward at the Department of Ecology in Lacey, Washington, at 360-407-6250. Sites that contain more than 800 waste tires (or the combined weight of 16,000 pounds of waste tires) may be eligible for the Tire Cleanup Program.

As of November 2008, 169 known unauthorized waste tire pile sites in Washington State contain approximately 5 million waste tires [about 100 passenger tires equals 1 ton of tires]. The Department of Ecology hired contractors to cleanup up unauthorized waste tire piles that contain more than 800 tires. The following table shows the total numbers of sites and tons of tires cleaned up and remaining. Details are provided in the following discussion.

Summary of Tire Pile Cleanup

Sites	Sites Completed	Sites Remaining	Total Number of Sites
Number of Sites	75	94	169
Tires	Tons Removed	Tons Remaining	Total Tons of Tires
Tons of Tires	40,988	9,412	50,400

In November 2007, contractors completed cleanup at Washington’s largest waste tire pile, located in Goldendale in Klickitat County. This cleanup removed a total of 20,240 tons of tires, that’s about the same as 2,024,000 passenger tires. Contractors completed 74 other tire pile cleanups by November 2008. Over 75% of the tires removed from these sites were recycled or reused. Tire recycling included crumb rubber, stamped rubber bumpers, tire rings, and scrap steel (wheel rims). Tire reuse included tire bales used in construction projects and tires used for fuel in cement kilns.

Tire Pile Cleanup Progress by County

As of November 2008, 94 more tire pile sites remain to be cleaned up in Washington. The location of these sites is detailed in the following table. There are an estimated 9,412 tons of tires at these sites. It is possible that more sites will be discovered as this cleanup work continues. Cleanup will continue into 2010.

Two maps of Washington illustrate where the completed tire cleanups and remaining tire piles are located and totals the number of sites and tons in each county. Map 1 in black represents locations of completed tire cleanup. Map 2 in grey represents remaining tire cleanup sites.

Tire Pile Cleanup 1990 to 1998

In 1989 the Washington State Legislature passed Substitute House Bill (SHB) 1671 (Sections 92 – 95) which established a $1 per tire fee on the retail sale of new vehicle tires for the Vehicle Tire Recycling Account (VTRA). This account provided approximately $14.4 million to clean up 28 unpermitted tire piles in 9 counties around Washington. Collection of the tire fee ended in 1994 and the account was fully spent in 1998. The following table summarizes the tire pile cleanups performed using the VTRA.

Tire Pile Cleanup 1990 to 1998

Year	# Sites	Estimated Number of Tires	Cost
1990	1	92,200	$102,667
1991	14	794,000	$1,816,894
1992	3	1,263,300	$1,241,133
1993	2	57,000	$65,394
1994	1	932,000	$166,000
1995	2	4,158,600	$4,114,859
1996	3	2,380,200	$3,235,372
1997	1	175,000	$310,200
1998	1	2,800,000	$3,378,947
TOTAL	28	12,652,300	$14,431,466