Connecticut passes HB 6486 to hold tire producers responsible for proper recycling

On Monday, Connecticut became the first state to pass an extended producer responsibility (EPR) bill for tires in both legislative chambers. The bill, HB 6486, is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Ned Lamont and would go into effect Jan. 1, 2024. 

The bill requires tire manufacturers to finance, operate and report on the postconsumer management of their products. The state says it expects the bill to decrease illegal dumping, better protect consumers and boost tire recycling. 

Currently, Connecticut retailers and repair shops charge customers a tire recycling fee that is supposed to cover the cost of proper transport and recycling or disposal. Under the new EPR legislation, the same fee will be moved to the point-of-sale, meaning the producer will bear the costs of postconsumer recycling instead of a customer, repair shop, transporter or retailer. Additionally, the new legislation would mean transporters are paid only upon delivery of the tires to a processor or end market. The entire system must be managed by tire manufacturers, including transparent and auditable reporting to the state. 

RELATED: NWRA expresses concerns about Connecticut EPR bill 

Once the bill is signed, the state says it expects to see an increase in the retreading and recycling of a significant number of the roughly 3.1 million scrap tires generated annually in Connecticut. Approximately 75 percent of this scrap was burned as tire-derived fuel (TDF) until the TDF incineration plant, Exeter Energy, in Sterling, Connecticut, closed in June 2014. Because Connecticut now has fewer outlets for retreading, recycling or beneficial use of scrap tires illegal dumping has increased since 2014; the Connecticut Department of Transportation picked up more than 16,000 illegally dumped tires that year. Tires that lie in stockpiles or illegal dumps cause environmental threats and public health hazards, such as mosquito-borne illness and fire risk. 

Tom Metzner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and Jen Heaton-Jones of the Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority championed HB 6486.