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Department of Ecology Press Release - November 22, 2005
05-286
OLYMPIA - Seeing mountains of waste tires at various locations across Washington may be a thing of the past if recommendations from the state Department of Ecology (Ecology) are adopted by the Legislature.
In addition to being a nuisance, fire hazard and mosquito habitat, in many cases the large, lasting piles of discarded vehicle tires are illegal. But determining how to take care of the "tire piles," legally stored or not, was at issue, so the state Legislature directed Ecology (in ESHB 2085) to find out where and how many piles are out there and to come up with recommendations for cleaning them up.
The Ecology Department found and reported to the Legislature 5 million tires in 54 piles in 19 counties across the state. It is estimated that it will take $7 million and years to clean up the existing tire piles. The Legislature authorized a fee that started July 1 of $1 per new tire sold, which goes toward the cleanup and is accumulating now.
"We found a large volume of cast-away tires and now can map them out," said Cullen Stephenson, who manages Ecology's solid-waste division. "Knowing what's out there is very valuable and with this information in hand, the money collected so far from the tire fee can be made available to us to begin the cleanup work."
The tire fee will be in place for five years, but even after fee-collection ends, remaining funds can be used to get rid of this unsightly and unhealthy problem.
"We want to make sure we clean up the piles, but putting prevention measures in place is high on our list, too," Stephenson said.
The full report can be found online at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/biblio/0507043.html. It contains details about priorities, costs and the need to begin the cleanup process in Washington state as soon as possible.
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Media Contact: Caitlin Cormier, public-information manager, 360-407-6149
For more information: ESHB 2085: http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2005-06/Htm/Bills/Session Law 2005/2085-S.SL.htm
Ecology's solid-waste program: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/swfa/index.html
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
