Ohio city sees illegal tire dumping increases

Officials in Canton, Ohio, are stepping up enforcement efforts against haulers who collect tires for a fee and then dump them illegally rather than taking them to a recycling or disposal facility.

An early March 2016 article by the Canton Repository says the city of Canton is conducting sting operations and stakeouts to help clamp down on the practice.

An official from the Canton City Health Department is quoted as saying the problem has “exploded” within the city. The same official says he suspects people who used to steal metal to scrap it for cash are disappointed with current metals pricing, so they may be engaged in phony tire disposal as an alternative.

Haulers can charge from $2 to $10 per tire, according to the article, and then minimize their costs by dumping the tires on vacant land rather than taking them to a recycling plant or landfill.

The Repository article also says two men currently face charges related to such a scheme, with both “open dumping” and failing to register as a transporter being possible felonies.