Brazilian industry this year must recycle a quantity of tires equivalent to 25 percent of the 45 million produced in this country, according to a resolution of the National Environmental Council (CONAMA), a rule that took effect January 1. The requirement will be doubled in the coming years and, as of 2004, tire manufacturing will be at one-to-one parity with recycling.

Estimates are that Brazil is home to more than 100 million used tires. They constitute a health hazard because the water that collects within the tires serves as one of the top breeding grounds for the mosquitoes that transmit diseases like dengue.