Waste Tire Activities Along the Border

State law requires the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, or CalRecycle, in coordination with the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), to engage in California-Mexico border region waste tire activity such as training, environmental education, abatement planning, tracking waste tire flow, and uniform application of waste tire environmental and flow control requirements.

In addition, CalRecycle must develop waste tire recycling projects that affect Mexico’s portion of the border region. These projects address California-to-Mexico movement of used tires that are eventually disposed in California. Projects include education, infrastructure, mitigation, cleanup, prevention, reuse and recycling.

Initial 2005 California legislation requiring border region waste tire activity is Senate Bill (SB) 772 (Ducheny, Chapter 214, Statutes of 2005). SB 167 (Ducheny, Chapter 333, Statutes of 2009) expands on SB 772.

CalRecycle waste tire activities along the border include:

Research/Flow Tracking

• San Diego State University’s tire flow study of the California-Mexico border region. Available in English and Spanish, the study report provides CalRecycle with recommendations for possible actions by California and Mexico.

Enforcement/Prevention/Flow Control

• California Highway Patrol (CHP) assistance in statewide CalRecycle enforcement of waste tire hauling and disposal regulations. This cooperative effort is expanding through increased training of law enforcement personnel and waste tire inspectors.
• CalRecycle provides training and publications about California waste tire regulations to Mexican tire haulers and generators. CHP provides the same information at border crossings. CalRecycle periodically sends letters to Southern California tire generators about applicable laws when giving waste or used tires to unregistered haulers, including unregistered haulers operating beyond California borders. This information covers waste tire hauler permit requirements, checkpoint participation and how to report illegal waste tire pile locations. In addition, CalRecycle’s Tire Hauler Compliance Unit has 5 Spanish-speaking staff and has established a toll-free Waste Tire Hotline number for Mexico.

Education/Training/Events

• In coordination with CalEPA, Office of the Secretary for Environmental Protection-Border Affairs, CalRecycle and Mexico’s Secretariat for Public Education developed a bi-national distribution mechanism for an environmental education curriculum titled Conservation and Pollution Prevention at a Shared Border. This elementary school curriculum has lessons relevant to border conditions, e.g., land, water and air pollution, and is consistent with existing environmental principles in Mexico. English and Spanish versions are available.
• The 2008 International Tire Conference in San Diego included sessions on waste tire operations and markets in both the United States and Mexico. One day was dedicated to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) US-Mexico Border 2012 Environmental Health Work Group.
• Two waste tire workshops:
  • Scrap Tire Issues In The California-Baja California Border Region (2007, National City). Agenda | Presentation on Rubber Manufacturers of America sitePDF download
  • Used and Waste Tire Flow in the California-Mexico Border Region (2008, San Diego).

Market Development/Reuse and Recycling/Infrastructure

• California State University, Chico developed teaching materials in English and Spanish to educate undergraduate students destined to be engineers and decision makers. Freshman- through senior -level lecture material for 11 courses shows how to use waste tires in civil and transportation engineering applications.

Planning

• In 2011 CalRecycle entered into a contract with the University of California, Berkeley for Technical Assistance for the Creation of a Methodology for the Development of a Model Integrated Waste Tire Management Plan Framework for the State of Baja California, Mexico. The final report is available in English and Spanish.

Remediation/Cleanup

• CalRecycle manages a cleanup project for the Goat Canyon trash and sediment collection basins in Border Field State Park, San Diego County.
• The City of San Diego’s Solid Waste Local Enforcement Agency cleanup of waste tires in the Tijuana River Valley and development of an environmental outreach program to inform border communities in Mexico of the health and safety issues associated with waste tires.

Collaboration/Other

• U.S. EPA
  • Border 2020 Task Force Meeting.
• Tijuana River Valley Recovery Team.

For more information, please contact CalRecycle at the phone number or email address below.

For more information contact: Tire Management Program Hotline, WasteTires@calrecycle.ca.gov