USTMA and its members have a long-term sustainability vision that all scrap tires enter sustainable end use markets. To this end, USTMA actively promotes development of promising markets, including rubber modified asphalt, and is ramping up collaboration with state partners, most recently in South Carolina, California and Arkansas. 

In South Carolina, USTMA and member company representatives participated in a scrap tire stakeholder meeting which was organized at the direction of the Governor’s office in response to abatement of the Viva scrap tire recycling site. The SC scrap tire stakeholder group has met several times to discuss growing scrap tire markets and improving the program. The group recently met on February 6, where USTMA and USTMA members advocated for increasing the use of rubber modified asphalt. 

Additionally, on February 7, USTMA met with CalRecycle in Sacramento, CA to review the state’s scrap tire program’s update to its five-year plan. USTMA submitted comments and recommendations on the plan, which was the focal point of the discussion. California’s scrap tire program is the largest state program in the U.S. and has the most funding. USTMA and CalRecycle discussed program improvements, including better utilization of the funds, which are intended for scrap tire purposes but allocated to other various uses. 

In Arkansas, USTMA has been in contact with the state Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) to provide technical assistance in response to abatement of a 400,000 tire dumpsite in Cotton Plant, Arkansas. USTMA will continue communications with ADEQ to ensure funds from the state’s scrap tire program are available to abate the Cotton Plant site. Since 1990, states have reduced illegal and abandoned scrap tire stockpiles from over 1 billion to 60 million, a 94% reduction. USTMA is confident that Arkansas’ scrap tire program will be able to clean up this site and continue the trend in reductions.