BOWIE, Md.—The Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee has added a wealth of experience from the tire recycling realm to its ranks with the appointment of Richard "Dick" Gust, a former Tire Industry Association president and current chair of the association's Environmental Advisory Council.
Gust serves as president of national account sales and director of government affairs for Pittsburgh-based Liberty Tire Recycling L.L.C., one of the premier tire recycling companies in the country and a conservation business that processes about 33 percent of the nearly 300 million scrap tires generated in the U.S. annually.
Gust will serve on the ETTAC as a representative of TIA and of the waste management and recycling segment of the U.S. environmental technology industry—or what many in the industry call the "waste-to-energy" segment.
"We are managing the (scrap tire) domestic market pretty well," Gust said. "That is the critical element. But in other countries, tires are not managed properly. The ETTAC brings to a global scale the proper management of scrap tires."
The ETTAC, in place since the 1980s, was formed under a U.S. Congressional charter and operates under the auspices of the International Trade Administration.
The U.S. Secretary of Commerce appoints committee members—in this case, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, who informed Gust of his appointment in a letter dated May 7, 2021. The appointment took effect immediately and runs through Aug. 16, 2022, when the committee's current charter expires.
The ETTAC provides advice on the development and administration of programs to expand U.S. exports of environmental technologies, goods and services, and products.
"During the current charter we are working on a range of topics from marine litter, end-of-life plastics, waste-to-energy facilities and managing end-of-life products with an emphasis on climate change and CO2 reduction," Gust said. "The committee advises on trade policy development, effects of regulations and identifying environmental technologies, products and services, with emphasis on a circular economy."
Marine litter, Gust noted, tops the list in priority.
"This is a huge problem," Gust said. "What I am learning is that there is a floating island the size of Texas, made of plastic (in the Pacific Ocean). And a lot of the rivers, especially in eastern countries, have businesses along them that dump plastic in the rivers that flow to the Pacific. This is what is creating the largest portion of the marine litter problem.
"We are looking at trading our technologies to manage the materials better, with recommended practices. I bring experience in tire recycling, and we can help others in this issue."
And although plastics and scrap tires are part of the "environmental technology" trade, the ETTAC is by no means confined to just those two sustainability spaces.
But the scrap tire realm—which Gust has been "working for years and years and years to create more markets" for reclaimed material end uses—is Gust's forte.
"There are 42 million scrap tires in Kuwait that are on the ground, and we have good experiences we can bring to that," Gust said. "People who are burning waste-to-energy, we have a lot of technologies there with tire-derived fuels, and we are better prepared to consult on doing the TDF burning properly.
"The problem in Kuwait is that they have a tremendous amount of oil and are not overly concerned with creating or using TDF."
Gust said the ETTAC—and the EAC on the Tire Industry Association, which Gust created—are very concerned from a pollution standpoint, especially with unregulated landfills that burn material.
"One of the things we are working on is reducing open-landfill burn," he said. "We are hoping to raise awareness here."
Gust has served in managerial roles in nearly every segment of the tire industry, from manufacturing and retailing to retreading and recycling. He has worked with the TIA for more than 24 years as a member of the Board of Directors; as president from 2004-05; as chair of the Government Affairs Committee; and as current chair of the EAC.
TIA represents more than 13,000 members in all 50 states and multiple countries.
"My focus with TIA has centered around government affairs and scrap tire recycling, both as a business and as an environmental concern," Gust said. "TIA is viewed internationally as the industry standard setters, counseling overseas industry groups and governments in tire recovery and regulation practices."
Gust is a sought-after speaker at industry conferences, state association gatherings and tire meetings.
He has testified before the U.S. EPA, drafted retread language for NAFTA, obtained tax credits for rubber lost in the retread process, worked to eliminate the excise tax on passenger tires, initiated the creation of a tire fund in states for scrap tire market creation, defined unsafe used tires for regulatory purposes, participated in industry discussions regarding tire aging, created and organized the EAC for TIA, and initiated a series of best practices for the tire industry that can be found on the TIA website.
"Dick's appointment (to the ETTAC) recognizes his distinguished work and leadership in the domestic and international waste tire recycling and reuse segments," TIA CEO Roy Littlefield said. "We are honored to have such a well-respected and knowledgeable person as Dick representing the tire recycling industry and TIA on this important advisory committee."