NEMO RPC Holds Waste Tire Collection

   Recently local residents took part in the Northeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission’s 2007 Waste Tire Collection. The district held a total of six two-day collections.  One collection per county was offered to residents of Adair, Clark, Knox, Lewis, Schuyler, and Scotland Counties.  Residents bringing tires to the collection were required to sign a waiver stating that the tires were not derived from a tire related business.
   Funding for this project was provided through grant monies from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and distributed through the Northeast Missouri Solid Waste Management District "Region C" out of Memphis, Missouri.  The Northeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission administered this project, and assistance (site and labor) was provided by the local County Commissions and the City of Kirksville.
   Residents of the counties brought their tires to the collection point, and the Road and Bridge employees from Clark, Knox, Lewis, Schuyler and Scotland Counties unloaded them from the residents’ vehicles into a large pile.  The City of Kirksville’s Public Works Department provided the labor for the City of Kirksville and County of Adair.
  At a disposal price of $104.50 per ton, the total project disposal price will be approximately $41,500.00.
   At the end of the two-day cleanup, Mick Parkhurst of Eagleville, MO. brought trailers into the facilities and his employees loaded them into box trailers. The tires must be sorted into the correct sizes and then "laced" into the trailers.  Semi-trucks took the tires to the Macon, MO. plant for recycling.
   The tires will be recycled into a number of end market products; from tire-derived fuel to different types of crumb rubber raw material.  Ultimately the crumb rubber material will be utilized in athletic tracks, football fields, mats, playground covering and many other products.  The wire in the tires is extracted, and the metal will then be recycled. 
   The Northeast Missouri Solid Waste District has provided this Waste Tire Collection to the region since 1997.  The agency has collected a total of 103,478 light-duty car tires, 17,028 heavy-duty truck tires, and 6,132 heavy equipment tires for a total of 2,745 tons of tires. 
   The purpose of the cleanup is obvious.  Waste Tires that are not disposed of properly, they pose a serious threat to the health of the population and to the environment.   In 2006, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (The CDC), the West Nile Virus spread throughout Missouri killing five people.   In one season, each tire provides breeding grounds for the fertilization of 10,000 to 1,000,000 mosquitoes.  The Missouri Department of Natural Resources Waste Tire Program estimates that there are approximately 2.9 million tires remaining in illegal dumpsites. So why not burn tires?  Burning tires release hazardous materials into the environment.  A pile of tires can continue to burn or smolder for months and in some cases even years.  If there is nowhere to go with these tires, how many more will end up illegally dumped? 
   The staff of the Northeast Missouri Solid Waste Management District and Northeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission would like to thank the city and county crews for all the time and labor that they put into these cleanups.    If you would like further information on this collection, please feel free to contact Nate Walker, Executive Director or Janna Cline, Solid Waste Coordinator at Northeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission at 660-465-7281.