“Crafted in small batches.” Whenever I take time for a bit of label reading on a box of cookies, candy or whatever that marketing ploy is rather prominent. This production model may or may not make much difference to the consumer. It is, however, a dandy way to ensure a few more tires stay out of Box Butte County refuse containers.
Tire amnesty returns to the Alliance Landfill this spring. Clint Fankhauser, landfill foreman, said they will accept 800 tons worth of tires over three weeks, starting at the end of March. Anyone in the county can bring in a load to recycle free of charge. A notable change has been to control the flow by vehicle size, specifically number of axles.
The first week starts at 8:30 a.m. on Friday. March 31, for vehicles with two axles – with no trailer, Clint said. “So everybody can get their garage, their yards cleaned out,” so everybody with one or two tires can make it, he continued.
Residents waited along Kansas Street for hours during the previous 500-ton event this past spring. Though cars and pickups could be seen, trucks and trailers carrying dozens of tires apiece were the norm in the first-come, first-served format. When planning for a followup just a year later, organizers sought to address a number of requests for equitable access.
Mid-size haulers look forward to April 7-13 when tires may enter on anything with up to four axles. “(We) don’t care (about) the makeup,” Clint said, noting that they would even take “four guys on unicycles,” if they wanted to recycle those tires or could carry a tire, of course.
Then, April 14-21 is open to everybody. People carrying a cracked wheelbarrow tire in early April or ten tons of retreads the final day must all be from the “local area,” which Clint explained means Box Butte County. Keep Alliance Beautiful volunteers will help verify this requirement at the gate. A driver’s license or other government-issued ID or vehicle license plate will be acceptable.
Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE) is again putting up a big chunk of the funding and the City matches part of it, Clint said. He receives at least a call a week or talks to somebody coming down to the landfill about tire disposal. “Based on last year’s numbers we should be able to hit 800-ton pretty easily by the end of that third week,” he said, emphasizing they tallied 500 tons in about 27 hours. More tires processed properly at no cost to the public should cut down on the incidence of the black rubber and steel rings littering ditches and slipped into Dumpsters. Like tires brought in any other time – rims must be removed for the amnesty event.
The landfill will benefit from a significant influx of Public Works employees as well as people from other City departments who want to help. “Takes an army to run this thing . . . Most people this year will have been through at least one . . . (we) have tightened up procedures,” Clint said.
When scheduling time to bring a load, he recommends the middle of the week as Friday will probably be the busiest day.
Resource Management, based in Kansas, will haul the tires to their facility at Julesburg, Colo., for reuse/recycling, such as “alternate daily cover” at landfills. Deana, a dispatcher for the company, said the expected amount translates to an average of 50 loads, usually 16 tons each, depending on the size of the tires.Resources Management will also be serving two other events, 250 and 500 tons respectively, at about the same time so the Alliance tire pile may take more than the 45-day average to disappear.
Do not be too tired to take part in this excellent instance for yet another free recycling option in Alliance.