>> BALDWIN COUNTY
Recycling scrap tires doesn’t sound like something exciting to watch, and while it likely wasn’t, that activity was anything but boring this past weekend.
Baldwin County held its first Scrap Tire Amnesty Day last Saturday at the Public Works Department off Linda Drive, where local residents took advantage of the offer to unload old tires at no cost. Road Superintendent Keith Green estimated more than 3,000 tires of all sizes were brought in, the vast majority in the first five hours.
“It was open to the public at 7 a.m.,” Green said while watching county employees unload and stack used tires. “At one point we had four or five vehicles in line to register and bring in their tires. We had a great turnout this morning.”
The road superintendent pointed to an 18-wheeler trailer.
“That one is already full,” he said. “Quality Recycling in Jackson is taking the tires for recycling. They will pick up this trailer Monday and bring us another empty one for us to load, and they will continue doing that until we get them all loaded.”
Green calculated there were approximately 1,400 tires stacked in the trailer. There also were five roll-off dumpster containers filled with about 200 tires each that would have to be loaded on a trailer. Meanwhile, county workers were unloading another semitrailer that contained 302 tires, all for 18-wheel tractors and trailers.
“The guy says he owns 10 trucks; he said he’s been saving tires for 10 years,” Green said. “He lives here in Milledgeville, and he was glad to find out he could get rid of them.”
Green said commercial businesses that sold tires as a major part of their operations were not allowed to dispose of tires through the day-long program.
Baldwin County Manager Carlos Tobar said the day’s activities were the result of a state grant, the first of its kind for Baldwin County.
“I used to do this in Grady County but haven’t had the chance to do it here yet. I know it’s popular with citizens cleaning up their yards; you have a lot of farmers and loggers out there who don’t have spots to take their tires. So, this is a great way to do it,” Tobar said.
The grant administered by the Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources was for $14,414.
“The grant will likely need to be increased due to the number of tires we received,” Tobar said. “The grant does allow for budget revision.”
An attendant was onsite to register folks as they came in, and a review of the sheets showed well over 50 vehicles with tires entered. While Green said most of the tires were delivered in trucks or on trailers, there were exceptions.
“We had one guy in a Toyota Camry. He made about five trips. He had his trunk full, his backseat full. One time he came with them laying up on top. I told him, ‘I think you’re riding around in the neighborhood and charging folks to haul their tires off’,” Green said with a laugh.