Locating Scrap Tire Piles A Case Study on the Mexico/Texas Border

Locating Scrap Tire Piles
A Case Study on the
Mexico/Texas Border
Agenda
► Waste
► Tires
Tires: A Binational Concern
in the Texas/Mexico Border Region
► Locating
Clandestine Waste Tire Sites
Quantifying the Problem
► 290
million waste tires generated per year in the
U.S.1
ƒ 80% U.S. tires are recycled, up from 10% in early
1990s3
► 25
million in Mexico2
ƒ 9% in Mexico are “disposed of properly”4
► Approx.
300 Million stockpiled in U.S.5
1 Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA)
2 Secretaria del Medio Ambiente
3 Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA)
4 Secretaria del Medio Ambiente
5 Mary Tiemann
Tire Sites (March 2005)
Source: Emily Pimentel, Scrap Tire Managment Activities
«El
Centinela»
Pasivo: 1’200 mil
Saneamiento 2004
40 mil llantas
Tijuana
Pasivo: 400 mil
«INNOR»
Saneamiento 2004
– 2005
Saneamiento 2004
119,910 llantas
420,000
Saneamiento 2005
42,690 llantas
Pasivo: 300 mil
Mexicali
Baja California
3 sitios contaminados:
― INNOR
300 mil
― Llanset
400 mil
― El Centinela
1’200 mil
Acciones de saneamiento:
― Tijuana (6 delegs) 40 mil
― INNOR
420 mil
― El Centinela
400 mil
― Total
860 mil
Chihuahua
1 sitio contaminado
«Llanset»
4’500 mil
Ciudad
Juárez
Nuevo
Laredo
Pasivo: 4’500 mil
Pasivo: 380 mil
Matamoros
Pasivo: 600 mil
Border 2012
• Goal #3, Objective 3: Waste tires pose a risk to
health and the environment, must be cleaned
up and put to productive use
• Waste Tire Policy Forum, 2005
►Stockpiling
is not an acceptable method of disposal
►Reduce existing stockpiles to minimize disease
threats and prevent tire pile fires
►Pursue recycling options
Source: EPA, U.S.-México Border 2012 Waste Policy Forum Meeting, Monterrey, Nuevo León, México
The Risks of Scrap Tires
► Vector
Borne Diseases
► Tire Fires
ƒ Air pollution
ƒ Soil contamination
ƒ Water contamination
Photo provided by Steve Niemeyer (TCEQ)
Photo provided by Steve Niemeyer (TCEQ)
Major Texas Tire
Fires Since 1995
Year
Site
City
Associated
Costs
1995
SPE Tire Disposal
Midlothian
$1,800,000
Sep-98
ERI
Stamford
$380,000
Oct-98
Madisonville Drum
Madisonville
$193,000
Aug-99
J.L. Elliot Landfill
Corpus Christi
$1,200,000
Nov-99
Los Ebanos
McAllen
$16,000
Sep-00
Gibson Recycling 1
Atlanta
$123,000
NA
Gibson Recycling 2
Atlanta
$60,000
Old World Tire
Brownsville
(Olmito)
NA
5-Feb
Source: Allen Blackman and Alejandra Palma, updated by the authors.
authors.
Tires in the Mexico/Texas
Border Region
City
Est. Number of Tires
Cd. Juarez
5 million
Nuevo Laredo
Acuna
30,000 (burned July
2005)
120,000
Reynosa/Matamoros
1 million
Source: Chen-Luh Lin, Jan D. Miller and Jose R. Parga
Mapping & Quantifying Waste Tires
► BECC:
qualitative survey
► UABC: calculus and surveying instruments
► Various: mapping based on local officials’ reports
► EPA Region 9: visual inspection of aerial
photography
► UT/Austin and CIWMB: remote sensing software
Border Environmental Cooperation Commission (BECC), E.
Ramírez-Barretto, F. González-Navarro, and S. Ojeda-Benitez,
Chris Newman
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
California Integrated Waste Management Board
ERDAS Methodology
► Obtain
aerial images and remote sensing
software
► Verify the existence of a known site in the
area of interest
► Use this base pile to determine pixels that
are spectrally similar to the base pile
ERDAS Results and Concerns
► Possible
to rapidly survey a region for
clandestine waste tire sites
► Several potential tire sites located
► Shadows and dark water problematic
► High cost of attaining software and images
► Software Training Needed
► Remote sensing does not eliminate the need
for on-the-ground verification
Bibliography
Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA), U.S. Scrap Tire Markets: 2003 Edition (July 2004). Online.
Available: www.rma.org. Accessed: September 16, 2005.
Secretaria del Medio Ambiente, Gobierno del Distrito Federal, Llantas Usadas: Diagnostico de la Situacion
Actual en el Distrito Federal (2002).
Mary Tiemann, “NAFTA: Related Environmental Issues and Initiatives,” Congressional Research Service
(March 1, 2000).
Texas Commission for Environmental Quality, Pollution Prevention Along the Border. Online. Available at:
http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/assistance/P2Recycle/border/border.html. Accessed April 26, 2006.
Emily Pimentel, “California/Baja California & Arizona/Sonora Waste & Enforcement Task Forces,”
presentation at U.S.-México Border 2012 Waste Policy Forum Meeting, Monterrey, Nuevo León,
México, February 7, 2006. Online. Available at: http://www.epa.gov/border2012/wasteforum.htm.
U.S.-México Border 2012 Waste Policy Forum Meeting, Monterrey, Nuevo León, México, February 7,
2006. Meeting summary contents online. Available:
http://www.epa.gov/border2012/wasteforum.htm.
Allen Blackman and Alejandra Palma, “Scrap Tires in Ciudad Juarez and El Paso: Ranking the Risks,”
Journal of Environment and Development, vol. 11, no. 3 (September 2002), updated by the authors.
National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade, Inter-American Trade Report – September 10, 1999.
Online. Available: http://www.natlaw.com/bulletin/1999/9909/990910a.htm. Accessed: April 6, 2006.
Texas Department of Transportation and Texas Commission for Environmental Quality, Progress Report
on Using Scrap Tires and Crumb Rubber in Highway Projects (Austin, TX, January 2003).
Bibliography
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, State Scrap Tire Programs: A Quick Reference Guide, 1999 Update (Austin, TX,
1999).
ChenChen-Luh Lin, Jan D. Miller and Jose R. Parga,
Parga, “Disposal Alternatives for Waste Tires in the Border Region,”
Region,” Southwest
Center for Environmental Research and Policy (SCERP), P2P2-0101-2 (2002).
Emily Pimentel, “California/Baja California & Arizona/Sonora Waste & Enforcement Task Forces,”
U.S.Forces,” presentation at U.S.México Border 2012 Waste Policy Forum Meeting, Monterrey, Nuevo Leó
León, Mé
México, February 7, 2006. Online.
Available at: http://www.epa.gov/border2012/wasteforum.htm.
http://www.epa.gov/border2012/wasteforum.htm.
Border Environmental Cooperation Commission (BECC), Project for Management and Final Disposal of Used Tires in
Ciudad Juá
Juárez,
rez, Chihuahua.
E. Ramí
Ramírezrez-Barretto,
Barretto, F. Gonzá
Gonzálezlez-Navarro, and S. OjedaOjeda-Benitez, “Waste Tire Pile Quantification through Surveying
Techniques, Statistical Analysis, and Calculus,”
Calculus,” Journal of Solid Waste Technology and Management, vol. 27, no.
1, (February 2001) pp. 1414-21.
Email from Chris Newman, Waste Management Branch, U.S. EPA Region
Region 5, October 24, 2005.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Response, Planning and Assessment
Assessment Branch, “US/ Mé
México Border Tire Pile Study
for Fire Prevention and Mitigation,”
Mitigation,” Draft prepared by Lauren Volpini,
Volpini, Janice Witul and John Evans, Washington
D.C., October 2003 pp. 2424-33.
California Integrated Waste Management Board, December 15, 2005 Board Meeting New Business
Agenda Item 11. Online. Available :
http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/Agendas/agenda.asp?RecID=1074. Accessed: January 8, 2006