88,000 tires recycled

October 30, 2007 09:39 am

— By Fred Petke / Staff Writer
Three days and 30 volunteers later, approximately 88,000 Whitley County tires are on the way to be recycled.
For three days last week, Whitley Countians could drop waste tires at two locations without cost or fee. The county responded well, co-solid waste coordinator Tracy West said.
“We had four or five tractor-trailer loads (at the Corbin Speedway),” West said. “We’ve estimated over 44,000 tires at the Corbin Speedway and about the same at Williamsburg.”
The tire amnesty is funded by the state legislature and rotates through the 120 counties. This year’s event was the third in Whitley County, with prior events in 1999 and 2003. This year was the first time the county had two drop off locations. The speedway location brought in a lot of used racing tires from competitors along with the usual truck, tractor and car tires.
“I believe having two separate sites was a good idea,” West said.
“I kept running back to both locations and it was load after load after load,” Whitley County Judge-Executive Pat White, Jr. said. “It keeps them from being dumped over the banks.”
The official numbers from previous tire amnesties said 100,000 were collected in 1999 with another 30,000 or so in 2003.
“I was amazed and glad to see the number of tires that came in,” West said.
Both sites were staffed by a combination of volunteers, county jail prisoners, county employees and state workers.
“Everyone did a wonderful job,” West said.
If the legislature renews the funding for the program, the amnesty should return to Whitley County in 2011.

Fred Petke can be reached at fpetke@thetimestribune.com.

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