Leflore County has received a two-year, $50,000 grant from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality to continue its local tire waste collection program.
“It keeps the roadsides clean and the tires out of ditches, streams and lakes,” said Jimmy Gibson, director of solid waste management for Leflore County. “It prevents an ugly eyesore.”
The grant subsidizes the cost to the county to properly dispose of tires brought to the county’s auto shop on Mississippi 7. Funding comes from an account set up by MDEQ that collects fees from the sales of every new motor vehicle tire sold in Mississippi.
The grant covers residences, property owners and persons who produce less than 40 tires a month.
Gibson said the solid waste department has a 53-foot-long trailer that is filled with tires every month and taken to Southern Tire Recycler in Jackson. The company shreds the tires into material that can be recycled for use on playgrounds and football fields. Shredded tires that cannot be salvaged are taken to the landfill.
The county pays about $2,000 every time the tires are hauled off, but the expenses are covered through MDEQ’s grant. The Greenwood Public Works Department also helps collect tires and brings them to the Leflore County Solid Waste Department at least once a week. The department brought the county 200 tires last week, Gibson said.
Tires can be deposited at no charge Monday-Friday at the Leflore County Solid Waste Department at 308B Mississippi 7 or at the County Barn in Itta Bena.
MDEQ does require documentation of a name, address and number of tires per dropoff.
nContact Lauren Randall at 581-7239 or lrandall@
gwcommonwealth.com.
