David Bodamer, Executive Director, Content & User Engagement

May 12, 2015

1 Min Read
Audit Blasts Louisiana Tire Recycling Program

According to The Advocate, the most recent audit of Louisiana's Department of Environmental Quality’s Waste Tire Management Program concludes that a problem previously outlined by the auditor’s office still hasn’t been addressed, namely inadequate monitoring to make sure tire processors aren’t overpaid.

The failure of the program may have also contributed to the departure of a DEQ undersecretary, Vincent Sagnibene. After serving in the role for seven years, he had his appointment from the governor withdrawn in April, due to what department officials are calling “programmatic deficiencies.”

According to the report:

Under the program, a tire or mechanic shop that removes old tires from a vehicle collects a fee based on the size of the tires. Customers buying new tires pay fees of $2 for passenger cars or light trucks, $5 per medium truck tire and $10 per off road tire that go into a DEQ Waste Tire Management Fund. The used tires are then collected by another business that tears up the tires and sells them for DEQ pre-approved recycling projects, such as for fuel or playgrounds. Once that end-use sale goes through, DEQ pays the processor 7.5 cents per pound of tires from the DEQ tire fund. The program has paid $71.1 million to six waste tire processors between July 1, 2007, and June 30, 2014.

About the Author(s)

David Bodamer

Executive Director, Content & User Engagement, Waste360

David Bodamer is Executive Director of Content & User Engagement for Waste360 and NREI. Bodamer joined Waste360 in January 2014. He has been with NREI since September 2011 and has been covering the commercial real estate sector since 1999 for Retail Traffic, Commercial Property News and Shopping Centers Today. He also previously worked for Civil Engineering magazine. His writings on real estate have also appeared in REP. and the Wall Street Journal’s online real estate news site. He has won multiple awards from the National Association of Real Estate Editors and is a past finalist for a Jesse H. Neal Award. 

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