Oklahoma passes bill raising tyre fees from $1 to $2.50

ERJ staff report (R&PN)

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma -- The Oklahoma legislature has passed and sent to Governor Mary Fallin a bill that more than doubles the recycling fee on new passenger tyres sold in the state and partly changes the allocation of the state's scrap tyre funds.

The Oklahoma Senate passed House Bill 1939 by a 33-10 vote April 26, about six weeks after the Oklahoma House passed the bill 68-13.

Under the old system of tyre fees in Oklahoma, tyre buyers paid $1 for every passenger tyre with diameters of 17.5 inches or less, $2.50 for every tyre with diameters of 17.5 to 19.5 inches, and $3.50 for each tyre larger than 19.5 inches. House Bill 1939 increases the fee to $2.50 for every tyre up to 19.5 inches, and leaves the fee for larger tyres unchanged. Fees on agricultural and motorcycle tyres also remain unchanged.

The bill changes the name of the tyre recycling fund from the Waste Tire Recycling Indemnity Fund to the Used Tire Recycling Indemnity Fund. It sets up a definition of “used tyre” as “an unprocessed whole tyre or tyre part than can no longer be used for its original intended purpose but can be beneficially be reused.”

Under the bill, 28 percent of the money from the tyre fund will be allocated to the Department of Environmental Quality Revolving Fund for controlling emissions from both mobile and stationary sources of air pollution. The rest of the money will go for tyre recycling projects within the state, including $54 per ton of processed tyre material to used tyre processors and up to 10-percent reimbursement for processors of capital investment in new equipment.

Oklahoma has had a tyre fee to fund tyre recycling since 1989, but the tyre fund was depleted in 1999 and 2000 when the legislature appropriated $4.6 million to balance the state budget.

From Rubber & Plastics News (A Crain publication)