SACRAMENTO—California Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed a bill that would have changed the state's scrap tire management laws to create a Tire Recycling Incentive Program.
In his Sept. 30 veto message, Brown noted that Assembly Bill 2908 would have replaced the Rubber Pavement Market Development Act, the state program that grants money to municipalities to fund rubberized asphalt paving projects.
"While this bill creates an incentive payment program, it also requires 50 percent of the payments to go to local governments for paving projects," Brown said. This, he said, would limit the ability of the California Department of Resources Recovery and Recycling (CalRecycle) to fund innovative tire recycling projects.
Instead of signing the bill, Brown directed CalRecycle to recommend its own incentive program in its next budget.
AB 2908 was backed by Californians Against Waste , which promoted the bill as a way of increasing the state's tire recycling rate.
"Providing incentive payments to end-users of recycled materials is among the most cost-effective ways to increase recycling, and it has been proven to work across different material types," Nick Lapis, CAW's director of advocacy, said when AB 2908 passed the California Assembly in August 2018.
The bill would have funded the incentive program through California's scrap tire fee of $1.75 on each new tire sold. However, it also would have allowed CalRecycle to charge an extra fee of up to $1 per tire if the state's tire fund was depleted.
The U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association supported AB 2908 after working with the bill's sponsor to make changes in its language.
Despite Brown's veto, the USTMA said it was encouraged that the California legislature is willing to work toward improving the state's tire recycling program.
"Over the past 30 years, USTMA has worked with numerous states to find uses for scrap tires, and California is an important partner in this endeavor," said Anne Forristall Luke, USTMA president and CEO.
"USTMA looks forward to continuing to work with the state and other stakeholders to promote responsible tire recycling and achievement of the state's goal of an overall 75 percent recycling rate," Luke said.
However, many other stakeholders opposed AB 2908. They included the Rubber Pavements Association, the Synthetic Turf Council, the California Tire Dealers Association, several California automotive associations and numerous tire processors and recyclers.
"Most California tire stakeholders…were concerned that the proposed new TRIP program would be costly, time-consuming and extremely complicated given the myriad of tire products that would need to be examined and funneled into different tiers for determining monetary incentives," said Terry Leveille, president of Sacramento-based TL & Associates and a consultant to the CTDA.
"Instead, these stakeholders argued, why not have CalRecycle simply increase its current tire grant program to local governments and school districts that offsets costs to locals for tire-derived products?" Leveille said.