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House approves used-tire management amendment, adds DEQ funding and landfill limits
Summary
The chamber approved an amendment to House Bill 259 defining truck tires, expanding allowable end products (crumb rubber), setting subsidy rules and appropriating $75,000 to the Department of Environmental Quality to enforce tire recycling and collection in rural counties.
The Utah House approved an amendment to House Bill 259 to address truck-tire disposal and recycling, then passed the bill and referred it to the Senate.
The sponsor outlined several changes: define truck tires (over 19.5 inches and under 24.5 inches), permit only limited charging of originators when state funds are involved (with a state subsidy increase of $0.35 per tire), expand definitions of end product to include crumb rubber, define mobile shredders, and curtail landfill disposal except for very small quantities (fewer than four tires per year). The amendment also authorizes a county bidding process to collect tires in rural areas and appropriates $75,000 to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to hire one full-time employee to regulate the program statewide.
Members discussed disposal of tire beads and whether shredded material could later be landfilled in the event of limited kiln capacity; the sponsor said DEQ rulemaking could allow limited landfill options if no other disposal route is available. Representatives from rural districts described urgent local problems tied to trucking and agriculture and urged passage. The amendment passed on the floor; the bill then passed 68–0.
Supporters said the package closes loopholes that enabled hoarding and other improper tire-recycling practices and aims to distribute collection through county-level bidding processes.
