SEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
General Services
Administration
EPA530-F-95-019
September 1995
Office of Solid Waste
Federal Tire Program
Environmental
Fact Sheet
Purchasing and Maintaining
Retread Passenger Tires
As ajleet manager or vehicle operator, you can help to reduce the
quantity of scrap tires that we generate annually. How? — through
waste prevention, proper tire maintenance, and tire retreading.
Passenger Tires-The Real
Scrap Tire Problem
Nearly 200 million worn passenger
tires are generated each year from
tire replacement or auto
dismantling. While a portion of
these tires are re treaded, recycled
into other products, or burned as
fuel, the majority of them join the
millions of scrap tires already in
landfills and scrap tire piles. The
piles are potential breeding grounds
for disease-bearing mosquitoes and
rodents and are a potential fire
hazard. Tires in landfills can rise to
the surface, creating operating
problems for landfill managers.
Today's passenger tires last longer
than those manufactured 20 years
ago, which means that we each use
and discard fewer tires during the
life of our vehicles. Further
extending tire life through
retreading is the next best
alternative for handling them. In
1994, retreaders produced 6.4
million retread passenger tires —
less than 5 percent of the
replacement passenger tire market.
Increasing the use of retread
passenger tires will further reduce
scrap tire generation.
In addition to solid waste benefits,
use of retreads conserves energy
and provides economic benefits.
Most of the energy used in
manufacturing a new tire is tied up
in its body, known as the tire
casing. Production of a new
passenger tire requires 7 gallons of
oil, whereas retreading that tire only
requires 2.5 gallons. In 1994,
passenger tire retreaders saved the
nation nearly 30 million gallons of
oil.
Use of retread passenger tires or
retreading services will also reduce
both tire procurement and disposal
costs. For example, if a new
passenger tire costs $40 and a
retread passenger tire costs $25,
purchasing the retread passenger
tire saves $15. Use of a services
contract to retread a worn
passenger tire also results in
avoided disposal costs because the
tire is kept in service, rather than
scrapped.
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Waste Prevention Federal Purchasing of Retread
Tires
Waste prevention means preventing
or reducing waste at its source. In The EPA Procurement Guideline
the case of passenger tires, you can
help by purchasing longer-mileage 7^ ResOurce Conservation and
and retreadable tires and by Recovery Act (RGRA) requires
properly maintaining those tires. government agencies to purchase
The Federal Tire Program's tire EPA-designated items containing
specifications require that new tires recOvered materials. The buy-
be retreadable. You, too, should recycled requirements apply to
require retreadable tires. federal agencies, state and local
agencies using appropriated federal
Proper Tire Maintenance
Did You Know?
• Under-inflation is the largest contributor to the failure of new and
retread passenger tires. Under-inflation also reduces the integrity of a
tire casing, which affects retreadability.
Inflation should be checked weekly. Use a tire pressure gauge —
eyeing the tire or thumping it are improper and inaccurate ways of
checking inflation.
• Proper repair of tire punctures maintains retreadability. Only
punctures in the tread area of a passenger tire can be repaired.
According to tire industry standards, the tire must be removed
from the rim prior to repairing tread punctures. The tire must be
repaired from the inside out, using a repair unit or two-piece plug and
inner liner patch.
• Maintaining correct front end alignment is critical to tire wear.
• You should never allow the tread on passenger tires to wear past 2/32
of an inch.
Tires are equipped with tread wear indicators, which should be checked
periodically. The location of the indicators is identified either by a
manufacturer's logo or symbol, the letters TWI, or a diamond on the
edge of the tread adjacent to the tire sidewall. When the tire tread is
worn to the same height as the tread wear indicator, it is time to
retread or replace the tire.
• Tire rotation prolongs tire life, especially on front-wheel drive vehicles.
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funds to purchase the designated
items, and contractors. Government
procurement fosters greater use of
products containing recovered
materials and thereby creates
markets for materials diverted from
solid waste.
In 1988, EPA designated retread
tires as a procurement item. The
designation covers passenger, truck,
and bus tires. EPA recommends
that you implement a two-part
program: purchasing retreads as
replacement tires and establishing
service contracts for the retreading
of worn tires.
GSA's Federal Tire Program
Federal agencies want a quality,
reliable product. To meet this need
and the buy-recycled requirement,
GSA's Federal Tire Program has
developed specifications, tire testing
requirements, and an inspection
program for facilities which retread
tires. You can benefit from the
Federal testing and inspection
program. In fact, the Federal Tire
Program is promoting the
standardization, throughout all
levels of government, of the way
agencies contract for retread tires
and retreading services. By doing
this, government agencies will
obtain quality retread tires and
retreading services at the lowest
possible product and administrative
costs.
The Federal Tire Program's tire
specification for highway tires,
ZZ-T-381, assures tread wear and
tire casing durability. Tire
manufacturers must demonstrate
that their products meet the
specification through testing of the
products' performance. Tires that
pass the tests are listed on a
Qualified Products List (QPL), and
manufacturers can offer only QPL
tires to federal agencies. Rather
than creating new specification and
testing requirements, you simply
can require that retread passenger
tires meet ZZ-T-381. By doing so,
you will assure the quality of the
retread process and tread rubber
used in that process.
The Federal Tire Program's other
mechanism for assuring retread tire
quality is the Quality Assurance
Facility Inspection Program (QAFIP).
GSA authorizes the American
Retreaders Association, the Tire
Retreading Institute of the National
Tire Dealers & Retreaders
Association, and several
manufacturers to inspect retreading
facilities in accordance with GSA
specifications. QAFIP certification
assures the quality of a retreader's
process and that the retreader will
be constantly monitored by the
association or manufacturer
responsible for the certification. If
you are contracting for retreading
services, you should use QAFIP-
certified firms.
Tire Safety and Axle Location
Many people assume that the pieces
of tire rubber lying on the road come
from failed retreads and that,
therefore, retread tires are unsafe.
In fact, most of the rubber on the
road comes from truck tires, rather
than from passenger tires. It comes
from both new and retread tires.
Rubber on the road is caused by
tire abuse — under-inflation,
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overloading of truck trailers, and retread passenger tires are not
use of mismatched dual tires on commonly used on pursuit and
the same axle — and by road emergency high-speed vehicles.
hazards, such as nails and sharp
pieces of metal that puncture Summary
tires. If no retread tires were used
today, there would still be just as B purchasing longer-mileage and
much rubber on the road! retreadable tires, properly
maintaining your tires, and using
There are no restrictions on use of retread tires can hel to
retreads on the steering axles of increase passenger tire life and to
automobiles. Retread tires can be reduce our scrap tire problem. By
driven at the same legal speeds as bu^ng *green ~ also will
comparable new tires with no loss in contribute to national energy
safety or performance. However, savings. REMEMBER —
while there are no federal RETREADING IS RECYCLING!
regulations restricting their use,
For Further information
EPA's RCRA Hotline
1-800-424-9346
703-412-9810 (Washington, D.C. metro area)
TDD 800-553-7672 (for the hearing impaired)
* EPA's 1988 Retread Tires Procurement Guideline
• EPA's 1995 Recovered Materials Advisory Notice (updates
recommendations in the 1988 guideline)
• List of QAFIP organizations
GSA FEDERAL TIRE PROGRAM
703-308-4673
• Federal tire specifications
• Qualified Products List
• Quality Assurance Facility Inspection Program information
TIRE RETREAD INFORMATION BUREAU (TRIE)
408-372-1917
• Retread Tire Information Packet
• Video: "The Use of Retreaded Tires on Government Vehicles"
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