Tire Disposal Costs Climb in Fla. County

Brevard County, Fla. is hiking the cost of disposing of old tires at the county-run landfills from $45 per ton to $80 per ton. The decision to sharply hike the disposal costs was driven by the state of Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection decision to end a grant that had been awarded to the county.

The new rates will take effect Oct. 1, and will only partially offset the loss of the grant money, according to a representative from the Brevard County Solid Waste Department.

The increased tire disposal rate will raise about $160,000 a year, enough to cover the contract the county has with an outside source to haul the tires away from the landfill and have them shredded, Rodriguez said. The difference will be covered by general reserves by the county.

The grant money the county had received totaled $248,000, and was earmarked toward the processing of old tires into other end markets.

Compounding the loss of the tire recycling grant, the county also lost another grant from the state DEP that helped augment the county’s curbside collection program. That grant totaled $142,000. Due to the loss of this grant the county will increase its yearly household charge by 3 percent.

The county pays Waste Management $6 million to $7 million a year to haul residential and business waste away, but the recycling program has never paid for itself.

It's the first increase of the home collection rate since the recycling and garbage collection rates were combined three years ago. Prior to their consolidation the combined rates were $101.25.

Brevard County has around 460,000 residents.