130A-309.58. Disposal of scrap tires.

(a) Each county is responsible for providing for the disposal of scrap tires located within its boundaries in accordance with the provisions of this Part and any rules issued pursuant to this Part. The following are permissible methods of scrap tire disposal:

(1) Incinerating;

(2) Retreading;

(3) Constructing crash barriers;

(4) Controlling soil erosion when whole tires are not used;

(5) Chopping or shredding;

(6) Grinding into crumbs for use in road asphalt, tire derived fuel, and as raw material for other products;

(7) Slicing vertically, resulting in each scrap tire being divided into at least two pieces;

(8) Sludge composting;

(9) Using for agriculture-related purposes;

(10) Chipping for use as an oyster cultch as approved by rules adopted by the Marine Fisheries Commission;

(11) Cutting, stamping, or dyeing tires;

(12) Pyrolizing and other physico-chemical processing;

(13) Hauling to out-of-State collection or processing sites; and

(14) Monofilling split, ground, chopped, sliced, or shredded scrap tires.

(b) The Commission may adopt rules approving other permissible methods of scrap tire disposal. Landfilling of whole scrap tires is prohibited. The prohibition against landfilling whole tires applies to all whole pneumatic rubber coverings, but does not apply to whole solid rubber coverings.

(c) Units of local government may enter into joint ventures or other cooperative efforts with other units of local government for the purpose of disposing of scrap tires. Units of local government may enter into leases or other contractual arrangements with units of local government or private entities in order to dispose of scrap tires.

(d) Each county is responsible for developing a description of scrap tire disposal procedures. These procedures shall be included in the annual report required under G.S. 130A-309.09A. Further, any revisions to the initial description of the scrap tire disposal procedures shall be forwarded to the Department.

(e) A county shall provide, directly or by contract with another unit of local government or private entity, at least one site for scrap tire disposal for that county. The unit of local government or contracting party may not charge a disposal fee for the disposal of scrap tires except as provided in this subsection. A unit of local government or contracting party may charge a disposal fee that does not exceed the cost of disposing of the scrap tires only if:

(1) The scrap tires are new tires that are being disposed of by their manufacturer because they do not meet the manufacturer's standards for salable tires; or

(2) The scrap tires are delivered to a local government scrap tire disposal site without an accompanying certificate required by G.S. 130A-309.58(f) that indicates that the tires originated in a county within North Carolina.

(f) Every tire retailer or other person disposing of scrap tires shall complete and sign a certification form prescribed by the Department and distributed to each county, certifying that the tires were collected in the normal course of business for disposal, the county in which the tires were collected, and the number of tires to be disposed of. This form also shall be completed and signed by the tire hauler, certifying that the load contains the same tires that were received from the tire retailer or other person disposing of scrap tires. The tire hauler shall present this certification form to the tire processor or tire collector at the time of delivery of the scrap tires for disposal, collection, or processing. Copies of these certification forms shall be retained for a minimum of three years after the date of delivery of the scrap tires.

(g) The provisions of subsection (f) of this section do not apply to tires that are brought for disposal in quantities of five or less by someone other than a tire collector, tire processor, or tire hauler.