Colorado County Considers Purchasing Tire Shredder

The Alamosa County, Colorado Commissioners have found a way to shred a problem.

They are seeking funding to buy a $525,000 portable tire shredder that could be moved around the state to reduce the piles of discarded tires to a fraction of their current size.

Alamosa County Administrator Herry Andrews said he has visited with Department of Local Affairs local liaison Debbie Downs about getting some money for the project from DOLA. Alamosa County Commission Chairman Darius Allen said DOLA is especially interested in the project because it would serve numerous counties around the state.

Andrews said 30 other rural counties are interested in renting the machine and operator, once Alamosa acquires them. The counties would help pay for the machine and then pay an hourly rate for operation. Logan County, for example, has 1.2 million tires stockpiled at their landfill.

Allen said the tire shredder reduces a pile of tires to a tenth of its original size. He said 20,000 tires can be reduced to 1 1/2 semi loads after they are shredded.

After a recent visit to a tire shredder manufacturing company in Kansas, Andrews said “We were impressed with both the machine and the people who make them.”

Andrews said Alamosa County would probably buy a shredder with a grappling unit to pick up the tires and put them into a 14-foot metal tub where they are shredded at the rate of 2,000 an hour. “This is the ideal machine,” Andrews said. “It’s a pretty durable piece of equipment.”

He and Allen said the only parts of the machine that have to be replaced occasionally are hammers and tips. For example, the tips on the end of the hammers, which chew up the tires, must be replaced about every 70,000 tires.

One person could operate the machine and grappler, Andrews said. The machine could rotate through the counties to share the expense. It only takes about 15 minutes to set up the machine, Andrews said, so it would be easy to set up.

“It’s exciting,” Andrews said. “I had a lot of skepticism when we started. Seeing what the machine can do is exciting.”

Allen said the waste tires produced from the shredding process can be used for various purposes include daily cover for the landfill. Andrews added some people have used shredded tires for leach fields.

He added the machine can be used to grind up other materials, such as wood. He said these types of machines are being used to help clean up tree limbs and debris left by hurricanes in Florida.

Andrews said Alamosa County could set up a central location for residents to bring old tires. Tires could be stockpiled until 10,000-20,000 tires are built up, and when it is the county’s turn to have the machine, those tires could be chewed up.

A per-tire fee could be charged to those bringing in the tires. The money collected would be used to maintain and operate the machine, Andrews said.

“We can start cleaning up the counties pretty well,” he said, “and be a really good service for everybody involved.” Valley Courier, Colorado