Ohio EPA Has Spent $27 Million to Clean Up Tires Since 1998

Date: July 8, 2007

Source: News Room

The Ohio EPA reports that since 1998, it has spent more than $27 million to clean up 41 million illegally dumped scrap tires. Recovering these costs is challenged by the difficulty in finding those who are responsible.

Ohio, like some other states, charges a $1 fee on all new tires sold in the state which raises about $7 million annually. According to Bob Large, who supervises the Ohio EPA's scrap-tire program, fewer than 4 million scrap tires remain to be cleaned up and recycled in the state, at a cost of about $1 per tire.

The Rubber Manufacturers Association said that 188 million scrap tires lay in dumps nationwide in 2005, down from an estimated 1 billion in 1990. Most tires have been recycled and turned into everything from landfill liners to rubberized mulch or burned for energy.

"There are many things that can happen to a pile of tires," said Michael Blumenthal, senior technical director of the Rubber Manufacturers Association. "None of them are good."

The Ohio EPA: www.epa.state.oh.us.

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