Scrap tire management industry looks to capitalize on infrastructure bill

The relationship between the amount of material reclaimed from scrap tires and the scrap tires that are generated annually has become somewhat of a good news-bad news refrain.

The U.S. continues to perform well, year over year, in the amount of scrap tires that it is recycling. In 2019, the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association reported in its biennial U.S. Scrap Tire Management Report that 3.37 million tons of recycled material—tire-derived fuel, ground rubber and civil engineering applications top the list—was obtained from 4.46 million tons of scrap tires. That represented about a 76 percent reclamation rate of recycled product finding an end-use market.

The problem is that percentage is dropping, having reached a high point of 96 percent in 2013, as scrap tire generation (263.4 million tires in 2019, less the used tires culled) continues to outrun recycled material.

"I think it's important to remember that the most material ever was recycled in 2019," said Sarah Amick, vice president for the Environment, Health Safety and Sustainability Committee for the USTMA. "The challenges we see year over year have continued to increase. Vehicle miles traveled went up so there was an increase in scrap tires.

"We are just not seeing the same rate of growth. The recycled product is not decreasing—it is just not growing at the same rate as annual generation."

Interesting to note in the 2021 report will be whether scrap tire generation drops off during peak pandemic time periods.

While circularity refers to the completion of the lifecycle of a rubber compound, such as recycled and reused carbon black, it also refers to the closing of that percentage gap—where the goal is to recycle 100 percent of all scrap tires that are generated.

"The goals are to lower natural resource consumption and CO2 emissions," said John Sheerin, director of end-of-life tire programs for the USTMA. "This is pushing innovative approaches. One example is increased use of carbon black derived from scrap tires—this is a great example of circular use."

In addition, ground tire rubber is beginning to find its way into new tire construction, "something we have really never seen before in the industry," Sheerin said.

"Our vision is that 100 percent goes to sustainable and end-use markets. And this goes across the entire range, from entering the production phase, to the usage phase, to when it comes to end-of-life tires, we want 100 percent," he said.

This requires addressing a data gap, where information about recycled material and the incentives to use it are lagging.

If even one point on the circumference to circularity is blocked, circularity cannot be achieved. And the only way to close the gap—the recycled material capacity is there—is to increase demand in end-use markets.

The USTMA has stepped up its activities in this regard, promoting "robust scrap tire markets," a top priority for both USTMA members and external stakeholders, based on a recent survey conducted by the USTMA.

Efforts include webinars to share market data, state-level workshops and a State of Knowledge Report on rubber-modified asphalt, a market that is a top priority for both the USTMA and leading tire recyclers for its strong growth potential.

Additionally, USTMA has supported research on scrap tire applications at the state level, including work in California and New York.

"To spur these types of markets means the advocation for infrastructure ... we are continuously engaged in research," Sheerin said. "Others, including the state of California, are looking at zinc levels in the stormwater quality coming from rubber-modified asphalt roads. Zinc is detectable, but it is negligible—and this produced a data gap.

"We need to address this so that people can comfortably use tire-derived aggregate for those applications."

Infrastructure may be an important piece of the demand puzzle, but it "is not the critical barrier," Sheerin said.

"I think it's important to focus on the circular economy and end-use markets," he said. "Infrastructure is not the critical barrier. It is really the markets and (increasing the) demand for material is what is needed. Building more infrastructure does not address demand."

Infrastructure may not address demand directly, but it does present a major opportunity, and the USTMA is looking to seize the moment with what it calls the "vital" Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Opportunity presents itself
As the U.S. House begins consideration of the massive IIJA, it is no surprise that the USTMA is calling for full bipartisan support of the $1.2 trillion measure.
"We know this bipartisan infrastructure bill will deliver real, tangible results for Americans in every part of this country," Anne Forristall Luke, USTMA president and CEO, said in a Sept. 23 news release. "The short-term and long-term benefits that will be realized through this historic investment will help us modernize our roads, highways, ports and airways in ways that are sustainable, resilient and meet the needs of our future.
"It is now up to Republican and Democratic members to decide whether we take this vital step toward addressing the critical needs of our nation's infrastructure or allow another opportunity for success to pass us by."

Luke followed this advocacy with a Sept. 23 letter penned directly to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy:

"USTMA is most pleased with the areas of the IIJA that address increased safety and sustainability, in alignment with our mission in corporate stewardship," she wrote. "In addition, USTMA recognizes the extraordinary potential in improving resiliency efforts offered through the bill's investments in research for technologies, which include innovative pavements and stormwater control.
"It is abundantly clear that the time to act on this critical measure is now. USTMA asks for your support in shepherding this bill across the finish line so that all Americans may see the benefits of bipartisanship in this revered institution."

If it sounds like the USTMA and the scrap tire management industry are pushing ground and crumb rubber applications, they are.

Of the 3.37 million tons of reclaimed scrap tire material that went to market in 2019, 1.65 million tons (about 100 million tires, or 36.8 percent of the total) was tire-derived fuel, while 1.09 million tons (24.4 percent of the total) was ground rubber, according to the 2019 USTMA Scrap Tire Management Report.

Civil engineering rounded out the top three end-use applications at 226,000 thousand tons (5.1 percent).

Within the 1.09 million tons of ground rubber produced, 35 percent went to molded and extruded parts; 23 percent went to mulch; 21 percent went to sports surfaces; 17 percent went to asphalt; and 4 percent went to automotive, according to the 2019 USTMA Scrap Tire Report.

The USTMA wants to increase that asphalt percentage and the use of ground rubber in stormwater management.

"We are focused on markets that help to advance a circular economy for scrap tires and are sustainable—and that is wherever there is rubber-modified asphalts," Amick said. "States adding rubber to roads, these are safety and economic benefits. But it also outlines the data gap that is critical to growing the markets."

Dick Gust, a former Tire Industry Association president and current chair of the association's Environmental Advisory Council, recently was appointed to the U.S. Department of Commerce's Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee.

Gust also is president, national account sales, and director of government affairs for Liberty Tire Recycling L.L.C., one of the major tire recycling companies in the U.S.

"We will see a major uptick in crumb rubber going into roads," Gust said. "We have a distinct advantage with this infrastructure bill to where we can build these roads with rubber-modified asphalt. The material is less expensive, and it builds a better road."

And as some end-use pressure mounts against the use of TDF, still the top application for reclaimed scrap tire material, tire-derived aggregate use is seen as a critical growth space.

"We need to create markets with new products, new uses, uses that have never been seen before," Gust said. "TDF has been in a difficult situation over the last couple years—it was almost 50 percent of the scrap tire population and now it is down to around 40 percent. TDF has clearly dropped.

"One of the things I am more optimistic about is that while it is a struggle to find applications for tire material, what was needed, and something that Liberty worked on, was the consolidation of resources—smaller companies doing collections, doing some processing—which could help the (reclaimed material) move up the value chain."

Of the TDF produced in 2019, 50 percent fueled cement kilns; 21 percent drove electric utility boilers; and 29 percent fueled pulp and paper mills. TDF generates more heat than a comparable weight of coal, but has a lower greenhouse gas impact since tires are partly made from natural rubber.

Reason for optimism
In 1990, according to the USTMA, about a billion scrap tires were in U.S. stockpiles, and only 11 percent were consumed in beneficial end-use markets.

By 2019, more than 94 percent of those tires were cleaned up, with 56 million more stockpiled tires to go.

These 56 million scrap tires predominantly are in Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, Texas, Virginia and Washington, half of which—New Jersey, New Mexico, Texas and Virginia—do not have active stockpile cleanup programs.

But across the country, a majority of states—42 of 50—have either zero or fewer than a million stockpiled tires, according to the USTMA. Colorado and Texas remain the biggest culprits, with Colorado at more than 20 million (includes 50 percent of its monofill inventory) stockpiled tires, and Texas at between 10 million and 20 million stockpiled tires.

And 44 of 50 states have storage and disposal regulations.

"I'd characterize the scrap tire market as innovative, with its rubber-modified asphalt and pyrolysis processes," Sheerin said. "I am hopeful to look at what's coming down the road."

USTMA and its members work closely with state regulators, recyclers and other stakeholders to manage scrap tires and develop recycle and reuse markets.

"States must resist the urge to shift scrap tire funds away from their intended purpose: to grow scrap tire reuse and recycle markets, clean up piles and enforce state laws," the organization stated in a release accompanying the 2019 Scrap Tire Report. "USTMA supports reasonable fees on the sale of new tires to manage state programs, like those collected in 35 states."

And the scrap tire recycling collaborations are growing outside of industry organizations.

Michelin, Bridgestone and Continental use recycled carbon black to produce new tires. Michelin also partnered with Scandanavian Enviro Systems to increase end-of-life tire recycling using a pyrolysis process that converts scrap tires to new raw materials.

Michelin began construction on this first tire recycling plant in Chile, in collaboration with Enviro, a Swedish company that has developed a patented technology to recover carbon black, oil, steel and gas from end-of-life tires.

Based in Chile's Antofagasta region, Michelin said the $30 million plant by 2023 will be able to recycle 30,000 tons of earthmover tires a year, or nearly 60 percent of such tires scrapped every year in Chile. This will produce about 14,000 tons of pyrolysis oil.

According to the USTMA, the largest class of scrapped tire in the U.S. in 2019 was light duty tires at 88.4 percent (268.2 million tires); with the heavier commercial tires coming in at 11.6 percent (35.3 million tires).

Enviro claims that replacing fossil-based virgin carbon black with rCB can "greatly reduce" CO2 emissions by almost two metric tons of CO2 per ton of recovered carbon black.

Enviro's recovered carbon black previously has been introduced as a replacement for virgin carbon black in applications such as seals, gaskets, plugs and solid tires.

Other corporate partnerships include Bridgestone joining with Delta-Energy Group to bring use of rCB to the tire market, and Continental's collaboration with Pyrolyx to help tire manufacturers scale up the production of rCB from scrap tires for use in products ranging from mobile phones to ink pens.

"We are really always working to hit long-term sustainability goals within our mission," the USTMA's Amick said. "All of our members maintain a broad sustainability vision with what they are working to achieve, and all support our scrap tire goals.

"The work we do helps to grow scrap tire markets and meet those long-term goals."

The USTMA is the national trade association for tire manufacturers that produce tires in the U.S. USTMA members operate manufacturing facilities in 17 states, employ nearly 100,000 workers and generate annual sales of over $27 billion.

USTMA (formerly the Rubber Manufacturers Association) began its scrap tire program in 1990 under the auspices of the Scrap Tire Management Council.