The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, or EGLE, is awarding Ottawa County $12,000, along with $7,500 for the Kent County Farm Bureau and $6,000 for Courtland Township to fund community scrap tire drop-off events and other tire cleanups.
“Kent County Farm Bureau is actually the host and they will be taking residential tires.”
Kirsten Clemens is EGLE’s Scrap Tire Program Coordinator. She says scrap tires sitting outside not only provide dwelling places for rodents and other invasive pests, but also
“Really, the big thing is mosquitoes, because those tires collect water and they are perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes.”
Clemens says scrap tires stored inside pose a potential fire risk.
“The tire itself is sort of hard to light on fire, but if they do catch on fire, they’re very hard to put out the fire.”
These grants provide communities with affordable and convenient tire recycling opportunities, including the creation of year-round collection sites and roadside pickups.
Clemens says residents should avoid putting scrap tires into landfills, as they can be recycled into any number of items including rubber mulch for gardening and rubberized asphalt for road construction.
