On March 23, 2026, EPA proposed amending its Non-Hazardous Secondary Materials (NHSM) regulations to make it easier for cement kilns to burn abandoned scrap tires. EPA asserted that abandoned scrap tires “increase disease risk to nearby communities” because they provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes and habitats for pests. The health risks may be especially pronounced in “rural, Tribal, and economically disadvantaged areas.” EPA further stated that piles of abandoned tires “present a substantial fire risk.” EPA’s proposed rule purports to address these “threats to human health and the environment” by incentivizing the collection of abandoned tires for use as fuel by industry.
Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), EPA is granted authority to define what constitutes a “solid waste.” This RCRA definition implicates the Clean Air Act (CAA). If a combustion unit – like a cement kiln – burns “solid waste,” the unit must meet the CAA’s strict emissions standards for solid waste incineration units in CAA section 129. By contrast, if a combustion unit burns “non-waste fuel,” the combustion unit is regulated under the CAA’s section 112 emissions standards.
Under EPA’s current NHSM regulations, “collected” and “abandoned” scrap tires are treated differently. Collected scrap tires “managed in an established tire collection program and burned for energy recovery” are not considered “solid waste,” and may be burned whole without further processing as “non-waste fuel.” However, abandoned tires – tires that were “discarded in the first instance” – are considered “solid waste” and must undergo “processing” before they may be burned as “non-waste fuel.” Thus, operators like cement kilns cannot burn unprocessed abandoned tires without triggering the CAA’s solid waste incineration standards.
To facilitate the recovery and use of abandoned scrap tires, EPA proposed making a categorical determination that abandoned scrap tires combusted in cement kilns constitute “non-waste fuel.” To accomplish this, EPA first proposed revising its regulatory definition of “solid waste” to categorize “abandoned scrap tires that are recovered” as non-waste fuel, if they are “managed as a valuable commodity and combusted as fuel in cement kilns.” Second, EPA announced a change in its position “regarding the extent to which abandoned tires must be processed to be regulated as non-waste fuel.” EPA’s prior position was that abandoned scrap tires must undergo shredding and dewiring before they can be burned as “non-waste fuels.” EPA’s proposal would remove these shredding and dewiring requirements. EPA asserted its proposals will “simplify implementation of tire pile clean-ups, reduce compliance burden, and add flexibility for state programs to address their abandoned scrap tire piles.”
EPA also proposed revisiting its definition of “established tire collection program” to include programs that recover abandoned scrap tires. This revision would enable a tire collection program to “manage recovered scrap tires no differently than it does the un-discarded scrap tires it collects.”
EPA also suggested that replacing traditional fuels – like virgin coal – with scrap tires in cement kilns “may [] offer benefits such as reduced emissions for select contaminants like nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter.”
EPA is accepting public comment on its proposal through May 22, 2026.