The state senate endorses a plan to let the state give away and eventually sell thousands of tires nobody wants.

Missouri’s waste tire law has the natural resources department take discarded tires.  But Maryville Senator Brad Lager says the state can’t do much with them after that.  DNR gives some of tires to the University of Missouri to use as fuel in its power plant in Columbia.  After that, he says, “They can’t give them away. They have to pay someone to dispose of them.” 

Lager calls the law a barrier that costs the state hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. .

He suggests the law be changed so DNR can give those tires to private companies that recycle them, or find new uses for them.

He hopes the demand for the state’s waste tires will grow enough that companies will compete for them—and bid on them.

One senator says the bill could let cement plants use Missouri tires in their furnaces instead of shipping them in from other states. Lager says he has a company in his northern Missouri district that chemically breaks down the tire to create fuel or to recover carbon-black that can be recycled back into the market.

The senate could send the bill to the House later this week.

 Listen to the debate 11:01