New York enacts scrap tire law

ALBANY, N.Y. (May 19)—After years of lobbying by the Rubber Manufacturers Association and its tire manufacturer members, New York has enacted a law to promote the abatement of scrap tire stockpiles and the development of viable markets for recycled tires. Beginning Oct. 1, New York tire retailers will collect $2.50 per new tire sold, and auto dealers also will collect $2.50 for each tire on a new car, including the spare. The fee is expected to generate $56 million annually, of which $16.25 million will go to the state's new scrap tire fund. In a news release, the RMA said it was disappointed that more of the money generated by the fee isn't going to clean up scrap tires, but it vastly preferred the bill as passed to the proposal by Gov. George Pataki, which would have levied the same fee but earmarked much less of it for scrap tires. Pataki vetoed the bill passed by the legislature, the RMA said, but the legislature overrode the veto. The new fee sunsets in 2010, the association said. The RMA estimates that New York generates about 20 million scrap tires annually and has stockpiles of 40 million to 50 million scrap tires, second only to Texas among U.S. states.