State and federal agencies work to boost tire recycling on the US/Mexico border

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), along with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the State of Texas Alliance for Recycling (STAR), recently held a workshop in El Paso, Texas, to help increase tire recycling on the U.S./Mexico border.

According to the EPA, each year, the U.S.-Mexico border region deals with millions of discarded tires, which pile up and attract pests. The EPA notes that finding ways to manage scrap tires is an important goal of the agency’s Border 2020 U.S.-Mexico environmental program. Over the past few years,the program has made progress by engaging local residents in cleanup efforts. This included removing 6 million tires from a pile in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, which were converted into fuel.

The workshop brought together a variety of stakeholders from the United States and Mexico, including representatives from state agencies and municipalities, the tire industry, public utilities and elected officials. By bringing so many perspectives together, the workshop aimed to define the future of scrap tire management and develop markets for the material instead of simply filling landfills. Organizers say they hope ideas and practices discussed at the workshop can work throughout the border region as well as in other areas of the world where scrap tires are a problem.

For more information on EPA’s Border 2020 program visit www2.epa.gov/border2020.