Delaware Event Collects 30 Tons of Scrap Tires

A collection event held April 18 by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) yielded more than 30 tons of scrap tires from 300 participants.

According to Laurene Eheman, administrative manager with DNREC’s Solid and Hazardous Waste Branch, approximately 2,400 scrap tires were collected at the Delaware State Fairgrounds in Harrington.

“The tires will be shredded and recycled into useful products that will benefit our communities,” she says. “We were pleased that so many people were willing to participate in our event and we hope to hold another scrap tire collection in New Castle County in the fall.”

The April event was the follow-up to the first event the DNREC held last October, when 1,600 scrap tires were collected from about 100 Delaware residents.

DNREC’s Solid and Hazardous Waste Management Branch manages the state program created to eliminate large scrap tire piles that can pose hazards to human health and the environment.

Delaware produces more than 750,000 scrap tires per year, according to the DNREC. While many of these tires are recycled or properly disposed, some end up in stockpiles or in illegal dumps around the state. The state program helps defray the cost of cleanup of scrap tire piles containing more than 100 tires created before June 30, 2006.

The Delaware Scrap Tire Cleanup and Control Program is funded by a state fee of $2 per tire on the sale of new tires. Enacted Jan. 1, 2007, the fee is diverted to the Scrap Tire Management Fund, a matching fund and program created to clean up existing scrap tire piles statewide.