U.S. scrap tire recycling rebounded in 2013, with the tire-derived fuel sector returning to form but the recycling-related markets not faring as well. Michael Blumenthal talks about the regrowth of those markets.

1. www.scrap.org MAY/JUNE 2015 _ Scrap_ 117
After its recessionary downturn in
2011, the U.S. tire recycling market
bounced back strongly in 2013, setting
a record for the proportion of scrap
tires (if not the tonnage) that found
a beneficial use. Of the 233 million
end-of-life tires the United States
generated in 2013, roughly 224 mil-
lion, or almost 96 percent, found a
home, up nearly 13 percent from 2011,
according to the 2013 U.S. Scrap Tire
Management Summary, which the
Rubber Manufacturers Association
(Washington, D.C.) issued in November
2014. “The 2013 market was so much
stronger because the recession was
ending and we were heading back
toward more normal conditions eco-
nomically,” says John Sheerin, RMA’s
end-of-life tire programs director.
Tire-derived fuel was the big winner
in the 2011 to 2013 period, while most
recycling-focused markets lost ground.
RMA’s report gives more detail on each
of the sectors, and Scrap asked market
participants to weigh in on the dynam-
ics behind the numbers and future
directions for the industry.
Fueling Demand
In 2013, the tire-derived fuel market
consumed about 58 percent of recov-
ered end-of-life tires in the United
States. That’s approximately 129
million tires, or 2.1 million tons of
scrap rubber. That’s a significant step
up in market share from 2011, when
TDF demand dipped to 1.4 million
tons. The 2013 results are close to the
TDF market’s prior average annual
demand of 2.2 million tons—seen in
2005, 2007, and 2009—and the market
share of 60 percent it held in 2007.
(RMA publishes its market summary
based on data from odd-numbered
years. The table on page 118 pro-
vides data from its five most recent
summaries.)
After slipping in the last
recession, the U.S. tire
recycling industry regained
its traction in 2013, though
the tire-derived fuel market
showed greater strength
than rubber’s recycling-
related sectors, according to
an industry market report.
By Kent Kiser
photographsbyscrapmagazine,azekvastpavers,
HOWARDROSENTHAL/DREAMSTIME

2. 118_Scrap_MAY/JUNE 2015 www.scrap.org
To understand TDF’s resurgence, it’s help-
ful to recall the market conditions in 2011. The
TDF market—and the tire recycling industry as a
whole—took a “big hit” that year, a tire recycling
industry source says, due to “a variety of economic
factors at the time,” which slashed demand from
TDF’s main consuming sectors, such as cement
kilns, pulp and paper mills, and utilities. In par-
ticular, lower construction spending cut demand
for cement, prompting the closure of some kilns,
which are major consumers of TDF. “The slow-
down in construction meant we didn’t need
anywhere near as much cement, so those markets
slowed down,” Sheerin says. The recession, in
fact, had resulted in the “permanent loss of some
older cement kilns,” says Michael Blumenthal of
MarShay Inc. (Nyack, N.Y.), a scrap tire consulting
firm, and “they are never coming back.”
RMA calls TDF a “cleaner and more
economical alternative to coal,” offering a higher
Btu energy value and a lower greenhouse-gas
impact than coal. It also tends to be a lower-cost
alternative to competing fuels such as wood/bio-
mass, coal, natural gas, and petroleum coke. From
2011 to 2013, however, higher prices for compet-
ing fuels and improvements in the quality and
reliable delivery of TDF helped boost consump-
tion of the material almost 49 percent. Cement
kilns continued to be the largest TDF-consuming
sector in 2013, buying 726,000 tons (equivalent to
44.3 million tires), with their demand increasing
138 percent from 2011. Despite that jump, electric
utilities posted the strongest increase in TDF use
from 2011 to 2013, rising 260 percent, to 576,000
tons (35.2 million tires). Pulp and paper mills
increased their TDF consumption 21 percent, to
716,000 tons (43.7 million tires), but dedicated
tires-to-energy facilities reduced their demand 50
percent, to 102,000 tons (6.2 million tires), in the
two-year period. The closure of Exeter Energy’s
tires-to-energy plant in Sterling, Conn.—which
consumed 8 million to 10 million tires a year—
was a principal reason for that sector’s decline,
the tire recycling industry source says.
One positive development for TDF was a
decision in 2013 from the U.S. Environmental
Market or Disposition 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013
Tire-Derived Fuel 2,145,000 2,484,000 2,085,000 1,427,000 2,120,000
Ground Rubber 553,000 789,000 1,354,000 929,000 975,000
Exported 112,000 102,000 102,000 302,000 246,000
Civil Engineering 640,000 562,000 285,000 295,000 172,000
Electric-Arc Furnace 19,000 27,000 27,000 66,000 66,000
Reclamation Project Unknown 133,000 130,000 54,000 49,000
Baled (with market) Unknown Unknown 28,000 2,000 30,000
Agricultural 48,000 7,000 7,000 7,000 7,000
Punched/Stamped 101,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000
Total to Market 3,618,000 4,106,000 4,020,000 3,084,000 3,667,000
Total Generated 4,411,000 4,596,000 5,171,000 3,781,000 3,824,000
% to Market/Utilized 82 89 78 82 96
Baled (no market/inventoried) 42,000 9,000 16,000 33,000 No data
Landfilled 591,000 594,000 653,000 492,000 328,000
U.S. Scrap Tire Market Summary, 2005-2013*
(short tons)
Source: Rubber Manufacturers Association, 2013 U.S. Scrap Tire Management Summary.
*Totals differ slightly from RMA’s original summary due to rounding.
“If EPA had said [tire-derived fuel] was a waste material,
it would have killed the TDF market, and we would have
had the next great scrap tire crisis,” Michael Blumenthal
says. “What EPA did preserved the market.”

3. www.scrap.org MAY/JUNE 2015 _ Scrap_ 119
Protection Agency (Washington, D.C.)
classifying scrap tires as a nonhaz-
ardous secondary material—and not
solid waste—when used as a fuel in
a combustion unit. “If EPA had said
TDF was a waste material, it would
have killed the TDF market, and we
would have had the next great scrap
tire crisis,” Blumenthal says. “What
EPA did preserved the market.” Now,
as a nonwaste fuel, TDF might have
greater appeal to boiler consumers that
currently don’t use the material. “It
could become more of an accepted fuel
as long as the quality of the product is
there, meaning it’s properly sized and
the steel removal is appropriate for the
particular boiler application,” the tire
recycling industry source says.
The EPA also recognized that
scrap tires contain biomass—about
25 percent of their content is natural
rubber—which opens the door for
TDF consumers to claim tax or emis-
sions credits for burning a biomass
fuel, Blumenthal notes. As Sheerin
explains, the biomass ruling “gives
TDF a further advantage over mineral-
type fuels,” and it could elevate the
TDF market in the future. “When you
do greenhouse-gas accounting, TDF is
going to come out better because of the
natural latex content,” he says.
Recycling and Reuse Markets
Even as the TDF market rebounded
strongly in the 2011 to 2013 period,
most non-TDF sectors nosed down-
ward. As a group, all non-TDF uses of
reclaimed tire rubber slipped 7 per-
cent, from approximately 1.7 million
tons in 2011 to about 1.5 million tons
in 2013.
Grinding down. Ground rubber contin-
ued to be the largest non-TDF market
for scrap tires. These applications
consumed 975,000 tons of tire rubber,
which was 63 percent of the non-TDF
use of scrap tires and 27 percent of all
end-use demand, according to RMA
figures. Ground rubber demand in 2013
was up about 5 percent from 2011
but down 28 percent from its 2009
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4. 120_Scrap_MAY/JUNE 2015 www.scrap.org
peak. Finely ground rubber goes into applica-
tions such as new rubber products, playground
and other sports surfacing, and rubber-modified
asphalt, while larger ground rubber pieces become
landscaping mulch and loose-fill playground
material. “When the recession came, tax dollars
went down, budgets were slashed, and demand
from ground rubber’s main markets went down,”
Blumenthal says. “Market demand hasn’t come
back as strongly as many had hoped.”
The molded/extruded product sector used 33
percent of ground rubber sold in 2013, followed
by the playground/mulch sector (31 percent),
sports surfacing (17 percent), asphalt (7 percent),
and automotive and export, each with 6 per-
cent. The playground/mulch market was ground
rubber’s only large-scale niche to grow in the
two-year period, rising 25 percent, from 160,000
tons in 2011 to 200,000 tons in 2013. Aside
from ground rubber exports, which increased 78
percent, to 40,000 tons, all other ground rubber
sectors declined in 2013 compared with 2011.
Demand for ground rubber for sports surfacing
and molded/extruded products fell 19 percent
and 12 percent, respectively, but the biggest
decline was in the asphalt market, which fell 59
percent, from 110,000 tons in 2011 to 45,000 tons
in 2013. In the recession, state transportation
departments trimmed their use of rubber-modified
asphalt, Blumenthal says, and that niche “never
really regained its footing.”
Currently, ground rubber’s biggest challenge is
the debate over whether it causes health prob-
lems in people who play on synthetic turf fields
with ground rubber infill. “The concerns are not
science-based,” Sheerin says. “They’re anecdotal
stories that mention cancer and get people emo-
tionally excited, but the science hasn’t supported
Currently, ground rubber’s biggest challenge is the
debate over whether it causes health problems in people
who play on synthetic turf fields with ground rubber infill.
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5. 122_Scrap_MAY/JUNE 2015 www.scrap.org
any links between the product and
those types of diseases.” Only about
17 percent of ground rubber went
into sports surfacing in 2013, but the
“sideways glances” of this concern
“stretch into the playground and
mulch markets, where you have people
interacting with the product,” Sheerin
notes. Together, roughly half of ground
rubber went into those markets in
2013. Although ground rubber produc-
ers say the controversy has not caused
a big slowdown in orders, he says,
“the press doesn’t help.” Blumenthal
expects the controversy to continue,
“and ground rubber markets will be
less than they might otherwise have
been,” he says.
An uncivil decline. The same downtrend
played out in even more dramatic
fashion in the civil engineering sector,
which uses tire shreds in road and
landfill construction, septic tank leach
fields, and as alternative daily cover
in landfill operations as well as other
construction applications. In 2013, the
civil engineering market consumed
172,000 tons of tires, which was about
11 percent of non-TDF demand and
roughly 5 percent of all recovered
tires that went to an end-use market
that year. Since its peak in 2005, the
civil engineering market has declined,
in part due to competition from TDF
consumers, who generally pay more
for the rubber than civil engineering
consumers, the tire recycling industry
source says. Civil engineering projects
also can require large tonnages of pro-
cessed rubber on short notice, which
can pose purchasing, storage, and
logistical problems for tire recyclers,
Civil engineering projects can
require large tonnages of
processed rubber on short notice,
which can pose purchasing,
storage, and logistical problems
for tire recyclers.
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Sheerin says. “When the project’s a go,
the contractor might suddenly need
50,000 tons of tires, so the recycler
would need to have that material in
stock.” Such challenges “created more
problems than it was worth for many
processors, so interest in this market
has waned,” Blumenthal says.
That said, there still are “viable
applications for civil engineering
material, especially out West, where
you have the remaining stockpiles
of tires,” Blumenthal says. Sheerin
concurs, noting that this sector could
see a boost thanks to renewed interest
in Colorado and California, which are
using scrap rubber in new civil engi-
neering projects. California, for one,
has announced a grant for a project
that will use tire-derived aggregate as a
vibration dampener for a light-rail line.
Holding steady. Several smaller markets
also consume U.S. scrap tires, such as
professionally engineered tire bales,
reclamation projects (primarily to
build up mining sites), steel produc-
tion in electric-arc furnaces, agricul-
tural applications, and products that
are punched, pressed, or stamped from
scrap tires. The latter three markets
remained constant from 2011 to 2013,
with EAFs consuming about 66,000
tons of scrap tires, agricultural uses
consuming about 7,000 tons, and
punched, pressed, or stamped prod-
ucts using nearly 2,000 tons. Fewer
tires—about 49,000 tons—went into
reclamation projects in 2013, a decline
of just over 9 percent. Texas was the
main user of scrap tire rubber for land
reclamation projects—principally at
mining sites—and “it just stopped that
program,” Blumenthal says.
The engineered bale market, which
dipped significantly in 2011, returned
in 2013 to its previous level of about
30,000 tons of demand, but market par-
ticipants don’t see much growth poten-
tial for this niche going forward. Most
of the bales are exported from the West
Coast to consumers in Asia for use as
TDF or feedstock for other processes,
but “that process has stopped—China
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7. 124_Scrap_MAY/JUNE 2015 www.scrap.org
has closed that door,” Sheerin says.
U.S. exports of scrap tires in general
peaked in 2011, then slipped 19 per-
cent, to about 246,000 tons, in 2013,
and Blumenthal sees little potential
for growth in that sector. “The export
market came and went,” he says. “It
helped save the market during the
recession, but that market has gone
away, and it isn’t coming back in the
foreseeable future.”
Shrinking stockpiles
RMA’s 2013 report indicates the ton-
nage of landfilled tires and the num-
ber of scrap tires in U.S. stockpiles
both are steadily falling. From a peak
of 653,000 tons in 2009, the number
of landfilled tires fell 25 percent, to
492,000 tons, in 2011 and 33 percent,
to about 328,000 tons, in 2013. As for
stockpiled tires, the U.S. backlog has
dwindled from about a billion scrap
tires in 1990 to roughly 75 million in
2013, a 92-percent reduction. “That’s
a major achievement,” Blumenthal
says, “and everybody who has been
involved in it should be proud.”
Colorado—the state with the largest
remaining tire stockpiles—has a new
program that could cut an additional
30 million tires from the U.S. stock-
pile, Sheerin says. “We’re hopeful this
law will be successful for the state.”
Despite such progress, the U.S.
stockpile will never reach zero, these
industry watchers say. “There will
always be tires going to landfill—that’s
as simple as it gets,” Blumenthal says.
“There are states—primarily those
with sparse population and wide open
space—that basically don’t have any
kind of tire management plan, and they
don’t have any volumes.” According to
The Southeast will continue to be
the “brightest spot” in the scrap
tire market thanks to its high
consumption of TDF, John Sheerin
says.
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8. www.scrap.org MAY/JUNE 2015 _ Scrap_ 125
RMA’s 2013 report, 12 states allow the
landfilling of whole tires, and 38 allow
the land disposal of cut or shredded
tires. Even though discarding tires isn’t
ideal, it’s “better than leaving them out
in the environment,” Blumenthal says.
“It’s not a market, but at least they’re
being managed.”
The Road Ahead
Sheerin expects the Southeast to
continue to be the “brightest spot” in
the scrap tire market thanks to its high
consumption of TDF. “There’s so much
demand there for TDF that if you can
get tires in that area, they’re going to be
used. The market is pretty much sold
out.” The Northeast, on the other hand,
remains a concern due to the closing of
the Exeter Energy plant in Connecticut.
New England doesn’t have many mar-
ket options for scrap tires, Blumenthal
says. One of the two pulp and paper
mills in Maine that consumed tires has
been down for a while, he says, and
“tires are piling up in the pipeline.
You can only sustain that kind of lack
of markets for so long.” According to
Sheerin, “there was great concern that
the Exeter closure would lead to a lot
more illegal dumping and stockpiles,
but, fortunately, that has not hap-
pened.” Even so, he says, “we’re still
concerned and would like to see more
markets developing in the Northeast.”
Looking at the broader picture,
Blumenthal sees tire recycling mar-
kets plateauing in the near term. “I
just don’t see any major upswings in
the marketplace; there’s nothing out
there that’s a game-changer,” he says.
On a more optimistic, longer-term
note, Sheerin says, “new technologies
and evolving existing technology may
become commercially viable further
down the road and develop a more
sophisticated processing industry. The
tire industry is not satisfied with the
status quo.” S
Kent Kiser is publisher of Scrap and assis-
tant vice president of industry communica-
tions for ISRI.
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