Volunteers and city workers will make the rounds this Saturday to cart away used tires for the Tired of Tires collection drive.
Keep Columbus Beautiful, in partnership with the Public Works Department and a variety of civic groups, will spend Saturday morning picking up any tires residents want properly disposed of in an effort to keep the city’s roadsides clear.
“Tires are so harmful to the community,” Mayor Keith Gaskin said. “People don’t think about how bad they are, but they take up a lot of space in landfills, which is why they need to be recycled. They can easily catch on fire if they’re stockpiled. They release toxic fumes. They pollute water. They’re a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Snakes and rats will house themselves inside.”
Anyone with a Columbus address on their driver’s license or state ID can call in to have volunteers collect up to 30 tires per location.
This is the third Tired of Tires event in two years, KCB spokesperson Glenda Richardson said. The last drive in March collected more than 800 tires, which were handed off to the Columbus Waste Pro branch for eventual recycling. The first event, in October, collected about the same amount.
Richardson said KCB and Pick It Up Possum Town came up with the idea after seeing piles of tires while conducting their normal trash pickup drives.
“As we were picking up trash around town we’d notice the tires as well,” she said. “They were everywhere. On the S curve (on Pickensville Road) especially, people would just drop off a bunch, any road less traveled. During the summer when you have mosquitos out and tires holding water, different little pests can get in there and affect children.”
KCB members lead teams of volunteers and public works employees around the city to pick up tires. During the last drive, roughly 40 volunteers split into eight groups to collect from residents that called in.
“It’s been a really successful program the last two times they did it,” Gaskin said. “Both filled up the back of a large 18-wheeler truck during just those few hours. It’s unbelievable how many tires we collect, especially when people call in to report areas where a lot of tires already are.”
Despite his enthusiasm, Gaskin says the city has plenty of room to grow its cleanup efforts.
“There are still so many tires being left at the side of the road,” he said. “There’s a real issue with litter both in Columbus and in Mississippi, even nationally. People notice when they go into an unclean environment. What we’d really like is for people to do spontaneous cleanups when they see trash. I’ve seen tires and taken them myself to be recycled with my truck.”
Richardson is optimistic that this year’s collection drive will go well, noting past events “worked out better than expected” with “no real issues.” Still, KCB can always use more volunteers, and encourages anyone that can pitch in to call (662) 205-9416 or just show up at 8 a.m. Saturday at 1601 Main St.
“If citizens have tires around their backyard, and haven’t been able to dispose of them, just put them at the end of the road and give us a call. We’ll pick them up as well,” she said.
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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 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
