Fayette Soil & Water Conservation District (FSWCD) held its second Scrap Tire Amnesty Collection of this year on Tuesday, Oct. 18.
“We collected 5,421 passenger tire equivalents” said FSWCD Director Chet Murphy. All tires were counted as their equivalent in passenger car tires. A semi-truck tire is equal to five passenger car tires and a tractor tire may be as much as 15 or more.
Most tires were accepted free of charge. There was a $5 per tire fee for large agricultural type tires.
“Together with the August 30 event, we have collected and recycled 13,369 tires this year,” Murphy said.
FSWCD received a grant of $35,000 from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) to fund the Scrap Tire Amnesty Program. The district contributed a 10 percent cash match on top of these grant funds.
The tires were subsequently hauled by an OEPA certified transporter to an OEPA permitted recycling facility. The recycler converts the rubber in the tires into various products, such as tire derived fuel or playground mulch. The steel cords are also removed for recycling. Some tire treads are sent to another company where they are joined together to make blasting mats. These mats are used by the military and private contractors to limit the amount of material being thrown through the air from various demolition explosions.
This tire amnesty and similar FSWCD programs held in 2010, 2013, and 2014 have removed the equivalent of 49,124 passenger car tires from the streams, fields, forests, roadways, and residences of Fayette County. The direct cost of these programs to date is $74,351.20.
“I applaud the citizens for taking this opportunity to improve the natural environment of our county.” said Murphy. “We plan to hold another Scrap Tire Amnesty Collection in May or June of 2017 with our remaining grant funds. ”
Funding for this program is provided by the Ohio EPA and Fayette SWCD.