California Waste Board Helps Pay for Tire Cleanup Efforts

The California Integrated Waste Management Board last week directed spending $426,660 to help remove thousands of old tires littering properties in a half dozen counties throughout the state.

City and county governmental agencies will use the funds to remove and recycle most of the tires, many of which are illegally dumped along roads and creek banks, as well as on Indian reservation lands.

Money for the cleanup operations comes from the Waste Boards’ tire recycling account, which is funded by the $1 State surcharge levied on the sale of each new tire in California. California currently generates approximately 33 million waste tires every year.

An estimated 70 percent of those tires are diverted from landfills, but the rest continue to pose environmental hazards from illegal dumping and stockpiling. Besides helping pay for the clean up of waste tire collections, the Waste Board provides financial assistance to help jurisdictions and businesses fund tire recycling ventures.

The Waste Board approved the following funding allocations:

Fresno County will use a Waste Board allocation of $5,000 to help fund a $9,462 cleanup effort to remove an estimated 700 tires in the unincorporated community of Del Rio. The tires will be removed and disposed of by the Scrap Tire Co-Op, a local tire recycler.

As lead agency for the Imperial Valley Waste Management Task Force, the City of El Centro will use a Waste Board allocation of $190,130 to help pay for a $198,630 cleanup operation to rid roadways in Brawley, Calipatria, Calexico, El Centro, Holtville, Imperial, and Westmorland of about 76,000 waste tires illegally dumped there. The tires will be removed by volunteers and transported to First Nation Recovery for recycling.

The 200-acre Laytonville Indian Rancheria will benefit from a Waste Board allocation of $7,602 to help pay for a $9,902 waste tire cleanup operation. That effort will remove an estimated 500 tires illegally dumped on parts of the Cahto Tribe land. The tires will be removed and recycled by Round Valley Recycling, a local business.

The Napa County Local Enforcement Agency will use a Waste Board allocation of $13,720 to pay for the removal of about 2,000 tires littering creek banks near Lake Berryessa. The allocation will pay for the entire cleanup. The county will have the tires removed and disposed in an area landfill.

The City of Victorville will use a Waste Board allocation of $15,000 to fund tire cleanup and collection efforts costing $20,720 in their jurisdiction. The city will have the illegally dumped tires removed and transported to a nearby tire recycler.

The Pala Band of Mission Indians will benefit from a Waste Board allocation of $74,030 to pay for the removal of three illegal tire sites on reservation lands in San Diego County. The tire piles range in size from 7,000 to 16,500 tires. The allocation would pay entirely for the cleanup efforts. Environmental OTR Recycling, Inc. will remove, transport, and recycle the tires.

The City of San Diego will use a $121,178 Waste Board allocation to remove and dispose of tires clogging the Tijuana River, where it runs through the city, as well as many old tires dumped on the California side of the border with Mexico. The tires will be disposed in an area landfill. The Waste Board allocation would fund the entire city operation.

The Waste Board has allocated up to $1 million in tire recycling funds for cleanup efforts in fiscal year 2001/02. The Board will award up to $75,000 for each individual project, or up to $200,000 for each jurisdiction to allow local agencies to clean up multiple waste tire sites. The grants are awarded to local governments on a competitive basis to remove, transport, use, or dispose of waste tire stockpiles statewide.