While a House committee reviews a new bill that would add a $5 surcharge to the purchase of retreaded tires, an industry advocate voices its opposition because it said the legislation was designed to discourage usage.
Gary Bubar, executive director of the Michigan Association for Pupil Transportation, confirmed that school districts are allowed to used retread tires on the rear axles of school buses, according to the National School Bus Specifications and Procedures. Retreads are essentially old tires that have been remanufactured to remove the old tread and to fit with a new tire casing. The old tire is recapped, regrooved or recut below the original groove depth.
Harvey Brodsky, managing director of the Retread Tire Association (RTA) addressed a letter to Rep. Doug Geiss, who introduced House Bill 5037 on Oct. 5 to require retail tire sellers to collect the fee for each retread tire it sells. The purpose is to fund a state environmental protection program to promote retread tire recycling, clean up roadside waste specifically from “deteriorated retread tires” and other litter cleanup.
Brodsky wrote that Geiss bill is “ill advised and is probably based on faulty information regarding the true causes of tire debris on Michigan roadways.” He cited a December 2008 NHTSA final report on commercial tire debris that found that any tire, new or retreaded, that are not properly inflated and maintained can blow and cause so-called “road gators,” or the bits and pieces of tires often seen littering the sides of roads and highways.
Where allowed by state or local rules, retreads are often used in fleets of school buses as well as other commercial vehicles because they are less expensive then purchasing new tires and are more environmentally friendly. NHTSA cited research by tire manufacure Bandag conducted in 2003 that found that tires represent the second largest item in most fleet operating budgets behind fuel costs. Additionally, it can take up to 22 gallons of oil to manufacture one new truck tire compared to approximately seven gallons of oil to produce a retread.
“To blame retreads for tire debris on our highways, in Michigan and elsewhere, is the same as blaming a vehicle for an accident caused by a drunk driver. The blame is simply misplaced,” Brodsky concluded.
