Provides relative to the dumping of waste tires. (8/1/26)

Senate Bill 332 amends Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:2418(C) to modify the state's prohibition on disposing waste tires in landfills. The bill retains the existing prohibition against knowingly and intentionally depositing waste tires in landfills unless they have been subjected to processing or recycling, but adds explicit language specifying that whole waste tires which have not been prepared through cutting, separating, shredding, or other means may not be disposed of in a landfill. The amendment clarifies that processed waste tires prepared by cutting, separating, shredding, or other means in accordance with departmental rules or standards may be disposed of in landfills as a permitted method of ultimate disposal.

The practical effect of this legislation is to reinforce the existing waste tire disposal regime by making clear that only processed tires can be landfilled while whole tires remain prohibited. Waste tire generators, landfill operators, solid waste management facilities, and tire retailers or distributors are the primary entities affected by this change. Landfill facilities must continue to refuse whole waste tires and enforce the distinction between whole tires and processed tires at the point of disposal. The requirement that processed tires comply with departmental rules or standards means that landfill operators will need to verify compliance documentation and that generators will need to ensure their tires meet the appropriate processing standards before disposal.

This legislation operates within Louisiana's existing waste tire management framework established under R.S. 30:2418, which creates the Waste Tire Management Dedicated Fund Account and regulates waste tire disposal as an environmental protection matter. The amendment does not establish new permitting authority or create new regulatory mechanisms but rather clarifies existing prohibitions by defining whole waste tires as distinct from processed waste tires. The Department of Environmental Quality maintains rulemaking authority to establish and enforce the processing standards and rules governing acceptable methods of preparing waste tires for landfill disposal, which ensures flexibility in the regulatory scheme as disposal technologies and industry practices evolve.