Vol. XVII  -- Tuesday, December 6, 2011 --  No. 48

 

On August 28-29, 2012, CalRecycle will be hosting the 2012 Tire Conference at the Holiday Inn in Sacramento.  In anticipation of the event, CalRecycle is seeking Conference agenda topics from stakeholders and others.  Proposed topics can be sent to the Conference coordinator, Sally French at Sally.French@CalRecycle.ca.gov

Next Tuesday, December 13 at 10 a.m. in Sacramento, CalRecycle will hold its monthly meeting.  The following tire-related items will be heard: 1) Minor Waste Tire Facility Permit for Wadham Energy LP of Colusa County.  Action needed by February 27, 2012. 2) Minor Waste Tire Facility Permit for Rubber Recovery, Inc. of San Bernardino County.  Action needed by March 14, 2012. 3) Scope of Work for the RAC Engineering and Technical Assistance contract.  The two-year contract is not to exceed $1.825 million.  This contract was formerly held by MACTEC Engineering and Consulting, and currently by Jacobs Engineering Group.  The contractor provides training to local government agencies on RAC specifications, material properties and construction best practices.  Additionally, the contractor offers technical assistance from specification review to construction management oversight on RAC projects.  Another important aspect is assisting with the RAC Cooperative Purchase Program. The services of the contractor differ from those provided by the RAC Technology Center "which is focused on in-field implementation of emerging RAC technology and local government technical assistance on an as needed basis." It is anticipated that CalRecycle will award the contract in April 2012 and it will expire in May 2015. The Request for Approval and Scope of Work can be found at http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/Actions/PublicNoticeDetail.aspx?id=576&aiid=555 4) Approval of Scope of Work and California State University, Chico Research Foundation as contractor for the Tire-Derived Aggregate (TDA) Civil Engineering Technology Center and Education Services contract.  The contract is not to exceed $200,000. This is a staff recommendation that California State University, Chico Research Foundation serve as contractor for the TDA Civil Engineering Technology Center and Education Services.  This TDA Center is modeled after the RAC Technology Centers that have helped market the technology with outreach, information and assistance. The contractor is expected to perform two primary tasks to promote the use of waste tires in civil engineering applications: --General technical support and outreach to engineers in the private and public sectors.  The contract will supplement the recently approved contract for engineering and construction services for TDA pilot projects, and assist with projects funded by the new TDA Grant program. --Educational services as a follow-up to the university curriculum development project completed by CSU, Chico Research Foundation in 2009.  The contractor will update the existing curriculum, develop new curriculum support materials, and provide training to university educators who are teaching civil engineering students. It is anticipated that CalRecycle will execute the contract in February 2012 and it will expire in May 2014. 5) Update on Tire Enforcement Activities. This is the opportunity for tire stakeholders to voice their concerns to CalRecycle tire program staff.  This is also the opportunity for CalRecycle to tout its efforts in dealing with the spate of so-called "fly-by-night" operators who are: --setting up sites without proper waste tire facility permits; --accepting loads of waste tires with "low-ball" tip fees, some from registered tire haulers who are violating regulations by hauling to unpermitted facilities; --baling the tires; --loading them in containers; --hauling sometimes overweight containers to California ports; and --shipping them west, often ending up as tire-derived fuel in Chinese electricity generators with highly suspect pollution controls. The result of these allegedly illegal activities is that longtime permitted waste tire processors, tire recyclers, and tire-derived product manufacturers are losing their tire flow, losing the important up-front tip fees from that tire flow, and seeing a major revenue fall-off from their tire feedstock and/or tire-derived products. There are several steps along the way where CalRecycle already has, or could, put pressure on this questionable use of waste tires: --While tire generators are not responsible where tire haulers take the waste tires, they must ensure that their haulers hold a current Waste Tire Hauler Registration (or are exempt from needing the Registration). --Some stakeholders would like to see generators to be more accountable as to where their tires are sent. --As for the movement of tires from generator to end-user, CalRecycle sent tire haulers a letter on November 18, 2011, entitled "Zero Tolerance for Transportation of Waste/Used Tires to Unauthorized Locations."  The letter intoned, "It is the responsibility of the tire hauler to ensure that their waste or used tires are being delivered to an authorized location . . ."  In other words, tires can only be hauled to a "facility that is permitted, excluded, exempted, or otherwise authorized by the (Department) . . . to accept waste and used tires, or to a facility that lawfully accepts waste or used tires for reuse or disposal." The letter also mentioned that haulers should be aware that, "Some operators may think they are operating an approved collection site when in fact they are not."  It added that the hauler could be subject to enforcement action and that both the operator and the hauler may be subject to penalties. The letter concluded, "To minimize potential hauler liability, please verify with the facility operator that it is authorized to accept waste tire deliveries.  If you are not sure of the status of a site, you can contact the waste tire hotline at (866) 896-0600 for further assistance." One could ask CalRecycle:  What is the process for reviewing Comprehensive Trip Logs (manifests) that tire haulers must submit to CalRecycle?  Among other things, the manifests list the names, addresses, TPID numbers and number or weight of tires picked up at tire generators and delivered to tire end-users. --Sites that contain 499 or fewer tires do not need a permit.  Those with 500 to 4,999 need a Minor Waste Tire Facility permit; and those with 5,000 or more need a Major Waste Tire Facility permit.  If tire deliveries cause a site to have more than 499 tires (or more than 1,500 tires if the site is an authorized used tire dealer or auto dismantler), it needs a permit.  A tire bale may contain 100 or so passenger tires.  That would mean that an operator with just five tire bales on a site requires a Waste Tire Facility permit. --Once an operator receives a verbal warning or a written Notice of Violation, they are usually given 30 days to bring the facility into compliance.  According to some CalRecycle staff, that 30-day time period can be reduced if conditions warrant.  A recent Public Record Act request from California Tire Report found that none of the NOVs issued before November 11, 2011 had reduced time periods (it is not known whether CalRecycle legal counsel has taken a position on reducing the time period for enforcing some waste tire facility permit violations). As several tire stakeholders have noted, a facility illegally operating without a permit can bale and ship out thousands of tires in 30 days.  This doesn’t take into account how many tires were processed prior to the initial NOV.  In most cases, failure to comply within 30 days leads to a Cleanup and Abatement Order and/or a Cease and Desist Order.  Usually, operators are given another 30 days to comply with an Order. CalRecycle staff has reported that, sometimes, Tire Enforcement grantees (usually city or county enforcement staff) that inspect tire facilities and haulers on behalf of CalRecycle are slow to transmit information to CalRecycle.  Such tardiness can delay entry into the CalRecycle database. --Some tire stakeholders have reported that tire brokers, responsible for the baling and shipping, request a minimum of 22 metric tonnes of tires per load hauled to port.  While requiring a permit, 22 metric tonnes (about 48,500 pounds) of baled tires would also constitute an overweight trailer, according to those in the know.  The question then comes up:  How often has CalRecycle contacted the California Highway Patrol regarding allegations of overweight tractor-trailers leaving a tire facility?  Then again, how many times has the CHP issued citations to haulers leaving these facilities? --If the CHP is overburdened and understaffed as they allege, could CalRecycle consider a contract with them so that they could respond to complaints from CalRecycle tire program staff? It is hoped that tire stakeholders and CalRecycle enforcement staff discuss some of the above issues this coming Tuesday.  Those who are unable to attend the meeting can view and/or listen to it via www.calrecycle.ca.gov/Broadcast