Organizers Call Delaware Scrap Tire Recycling Event a Success

The Scrap Tire Drop-Off Day held Oct. 25 was highly successful, collecting about 20 tons of passenger vehicle tires for recycling, according to a press release.

During the seven-hour event, about 200 cars stopped by the Delaware Solid Waste Authority’s Route 5 Transfer Station near Harbeson to drop off a total of 1,600 tires, which will be shredded and burned as an energy source, the press release says.

The Scrap Tire Drop-off Day was held through a partnership between the Delaware Solid Waste Authority (DSWA), Independent Disposal Services (IDS) and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s (DNREC) Scrap Tire Control and Cleanup Program. The event invited residents to recycle their scrap tires free of charge and help reduce environmental and health hazards in our communities, according to event organizers.

DNREC’s Solid and Hazardous Waste Management Branch manages the tire program, which was created to eliminate large scrap tire piles. These piles can spawn dangerous fires that produce toxic smoke, and oily liquid runoff from melted tires can pollute groundwater, the DNREC says.

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.

For more information on the program and future scrap tire drop-off events is available at www.awm.delaware.gov/Info/Pages/ScrapTire.aspx.