Connecticut Enacts Nation’s First Tire EPR Law

Hartford, CT — Connecticut became the first state to enact an EPR for tires bill, HB 6486, which was signed into law on Wednesday by Governor Ned Lamont. The new law requires tire manufacturers to finance, operate, and report on the post-consumer management of tires they sell into the marketplace. The law is expected to decrease illegal dumping, boost tire retreading and recycling, and save municipalities and taxpayers money.

HB 6486 was sponsored by Representative Joseph Gresko (D) and co-sponsored by Senator Heather S. Somers (R), along with an additional 11 co-sponsors. Tires EPR has long been championed by Product Stewardship Institute (PSI) board members Tom Metzner, EPR lead for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) and Jennifer Heaton-Jones, executive director of the Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority (HRRA) and chair of the CT Product Stewardship Council. In 2015, PSI’s Scott Cassel and Suna Bayrakal facilitated a national multi-stakeholder tire stewardship dialogue for the CT DEEP, including a tire stewardship briefing document and a tire EPR legislative model, which laid the foundation for the new law.

Until June 2014—when the tire-derived fuel (TDF) incineration plant in Sterling, Conn. (Exeter Energy) closed—about 75 percent of the roughly 3.1 million scrap tires generated annually in the state had been burned. Since then, there have been fewer outlets for retread, recycling, or beneficial use of scrap tires in Connecticut, with a resulting increase in illegally dumped tires. In 2014, more than 16,000 illegally dumped tires were picked up by the Connecticut Department of Transportation. Tires that lie in stockpiles or illegal dumps cause environmental threats and public health hazards like mosquito-borne illness and fire risk.

Connecticut, like virtually all US states, has had significant problems with illegal tire dumping.  Generators wishing to avoid disposal fees have been caught dumping tires into rivers, wooded areas, and vacant lots. With EPR, there is no disposal fee, and this will eliminate the primary incentive for illegal dumping. We know this works from the programs operating in Canada.

Currently, Connecticut retailers and repair shops typically charge customers a tire recycling fee after replacing their tire, which is supposed to cover the cost of proper transport, recycling, or disposal. Under the new EPR law, the cost of managing scrap tires will be the responsibility of tire manufacturers, so no customer, repair shop, transporter, or retailer has an incentive to illegally dump tires. Under the new law, the entire system must be managed by tire manufacturers, including transparent and auditable reporting to the state—a system of accountability that will prevent illegal dumping and protect consumers.

“For too long, the burden of unwanted tires not managed by the retail system, including illegally dumped tires, has fallen on local governments,” said Jennifer Heaton-Jones, Executive Director of the Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority. “We now look forward to the support and partnership with manufacturers who will share the responsibility of end-of-life management of all scrap tires.”

“Tire EPR programs have been operating successfully in 20 European countries since 1995 and in Canada since 2006,” said Suna Bayrakal, PSI’s director of policy and programs. “Ontario’s tire EPR program achieved a 100 percent diversion rate—all scrap tires collected are now recycled and illegal dumping has been virtually eliminated. Without an EPR law, retreading and recycling cannot compete with lower cost disposal and TDF options, which externalize costs to the environment and public health.”

The tire law is the sixth EPR law in Connecticut and marks the third time that the state has led the nation with a first product EPR law—the other two being mattresses (2013) and gas cylinders (2022). A 2017 PSI study found that the four EPR programs operating in Connecticut at the time (paint, mattresses, electronics, and mercury thermostats) had diverted more than 26 million pounds of material from disposal, yielding cumulative cost savings of more than $2.6 million per year to Connecticut municipalities, creating more than 100 jobs, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by more than 13 million kilograms of carbon equivalent.

“Connecticut’s new tire EPR law continues the progression of EPR laws passed in the United States, making it 134 EPR laws enacted in 18 industry sectors in 33 states,” said Scott Cassel, PSI’s CEO and founder. “There is now no doubt that the principle that producers are responsible for the products and packaging they put on the market, both upstream and downstream, has taken root.”

PSI is a policy advocate and consulting nonprofit that pioneered product stewardship in the United States. Since 2000, PSI has helped enact 134 extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws across 18 product categories in 33 states — the bedrock of the circular economy. We work with governments, academia, nonprofits, and business to ensure that products are responsibly managed from design to end of life. Join us at www.productstewardship.us.