By Dr. Karen Ball, Keep Liberty Beautiful.
It would be tough to drive your car without tires. Tires are convenient when attached to your vehicle and help you get around every day. But what happens when good tires go bad? Tires eventually wear out or are damaged and must be replaced. Ideally, all tires should be turned in for recycling or reconditioning for continued use.
Actually, about 83% of tires are now recycled each year. Unfortunately, there are still thousands that end up in local landfills. Tires also end up in people’s yards, or sadly, are dumped illegally into creeks, wooded areas, or fields. When individuals illegally leave their tires, they break the law and create an environmental and health hazard.
On Saturday, October 23, 2021, the Liberty County Solid Waste Department and Keep Liberty Beautiful will hold a Tire Roundup Day for Liberty County residents.
The event will be held in Hinesville at the corner of Oglethorpe Hwy (Hwy 84) and Fraser Drive from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.
• Tires generated from commercial ventures will not be accepted.
• We will only accept tires for cars, SUVs, and light trucks.
• Semi tires or larger and racing slicks will not be accepted.
• There will not be a fee for the tires turned in. We do not have a budget to provide free tire turn-in events very often.
Still, occasionally, it helps to have an event like this to encourage local residents to turn in tires they may have lying around.
We continue to look for grants to apply for to hold Tire Roundup events.
Because tires are breeding grounds for mosquitoes, it is best to have them disposed of correctly. Tires are also attractive living areas for several local animals, like snakes. I do not like snakes or mosquitoes, so please turn in any of those unwanted tires.
Tires collected but cannot be reconditioned with new tread can be recycled and sent to companies that reprocess them. Old tires can be shredded or melted down and used to make other materials such as asphalt to pave roads or mulch to create playground surfaces. Isn’t that a better option for tires than spending an eternity in a landfill? So, I encourage you to bring in any tires around your home.
Once again, this is NOT an option for tires generated from commercial ventures. We will only accept tires during the period of 9a.m until 3 p.m. on Saturday, October 23, 2021. Any tires left in the vicinity before or after the event will be treated as an illegal dumping violation.
The collection location will be under camera surveillance, so I encourage people to abide by these rules.
Illegal dumping penalties are pretty severe.
According to the Georgia Comprehensive Litter Prevention and Abatement Act of 2006, Code Section, it is a felony punishable with a fine of up to $25,000 and a five-year prison term. So, if you are thinking about dumping tires, think twice.
Liberty County, round up your tires and encourage your neighbors to do the same to help our community.
For more information about the Tire Roundup Day, contact Keep Liberty Beautiful at (912) 8804888 or klcb@libertyountyga.com.
Also, you can visit the KLB website www.keeplibertybeautiful. org, for more information on all our upcoming events, like Rivers Alive.
You can sign up for this event at https://forms.gle/Tp5SoymYnBGsmFwk7