Driving through the city, you’re likely to come across a tire or two – or maybe a dozen – strewn along roadsides or piled next to homes.
This weekend, Keep Columbus Beautiful will work with residents and volunteers from the public works department to collect tires throughout the city and dispose of them at Waste Pro for the third annual Tired of Tires drive.
Code Enforcement Officer Sasha James introduced the idea of a tire drive to KCB in 2023 during a workshop and has helped organize the event ever since. James said the purpose of the drive is to not only clean up the city, but educate its citizens.
“We’re trying to raise awareness about the issues we have with illegal dumping of tires and how it’s a health issue (and) a fire hazard,” James said. “We just want to encourage them to take those tires to Waste Pro as much as they can instead of illegally dumping them.”
The drive will run from 8-11 a.m. Saturday. Anyone living within city limits can call (662) 205-6419 before Saturday morning to request their tires be picked up, with a limit of 30 tires per household. Residents must leave the tires next to the roadway to be retrieved.
Volunteers will meet at 7:45 a.m. Saturday in the Columbus Police Department training room at 1601 Main St., before fanning out across the wards to collect tires into pickup trucks and trailers to dispose of them at Waste Pro, located at 1600 12th Ave. S. Volunteers must have a Columbus driver’s license or ID to drop off tires.
While the annual event helps clean the city temporarily, James said anyone with a Columbus ID can drop off up to 30 tires per household each month for disposal at Waste Pro.
“We’re hoping to continue this program to educate residents and let them know to get out here and volunteer for one thing, to keep the neighborhoods clean and beautified, but also to encourage them not to illegally dump these tires just anywhere around the city when they have somewhere to take them each month,” James said.
Aside from simply being an eyesore, KCB President Lakeysucha Bailey said abandoned tires are a breeding ground for rodents, snakes and mosquitos. Educating residents about these dangers is a key part of KCB’s mission, she said.
“Everything we do ties back to educating the children and adults of Columbus about the importance of keeping where we live clean,” Bailey wrote in an email to The Dispatch.
Since the drive began, James has noticed a slight decrease in the amount of tires left by roads, though the problem is far from solved.
“It has gotten a little bit better, but it’s still an issue,” James said. “I’ve seen improvements in certain areas, but picking those tires up last year, as many as we did, a few weeks later, there were several back around the city.”
KCB collected 1,191 tires from the city last year that were disposed of at WastePro, breaking the organization’s goal of collecting more than 800.
Bailey said she hopes to see at least 75 volunteers come out to help this year, particularly those with trucks and trailers.
“Please call or show up,” Bailey wrote in an email to The Dispatch. “Many hands make light work and get the tires out of our community.”
To volunteer or request tire pickup, contact Bailey at (662) 205-6419.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
