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National Lead Free Wheel Weight Initiative Fact Sheet
Fact Sheet
EPA530-F-09-001
January 2009
Phase out use of lead in the manufacture of wheel balancing weights for cars and light trucks
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is encouraging the source reduction of lead in the manufacture, use and sale of wheel weights, thereby reducing the release of one source of lead into the environment.
Background
Each year, approximately 50 million pounds of lead are used to manufacture lead wheel weights in the United States. This is a significant volume relative to all unregulated sources of lead. By working to replace lead wheel weights with steel weights, EPA and its partners will be reducing the use of lead, a toxic metal.
Action
To achieve an accelerated transition away from the use of lead wheel weights, EPA has developed a National Lead-Free Wheel Weight Initiative (NLFWWI). This Initiative was developed as a partnership among federal agencies, states, wheel weight manufacturers, retailers, tire manufacturers, automobile trade associations and environmentalists to reduce the use of lead and encourage the use of an alternative, steel, in the manufacture and use of wheel balancing weights.
The NLFWWI charter members include Bridgestone-Firestone Retail and Commercial Operations, LLC, Bridgestone-Firestone Motor Car Racing Division, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Costco Wholesale, Wal-Mart Tire and Lube Express, Sam’s Club Tire and Battery Centers, Wal-Mart Transportation, Hennessy Industries, Inc.-BADA Division, Perfect Equipment, Inc., 3M Automotive Division, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Postal Service, U.S. EPA, General Services Administration (GSA), new automobile manufacturers (e.g., Ford Motor Company, General Motors Corporation, Chrysler), Plombco, the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, Inc., the Town of Blacksburg, VA, the Ecology Center, Sierra Club, the Environmental Council of States and several small businesses.
View and print this fact sheet (PDF) (1 pg, 1.4MB, about PDF)
