Unwanted Tires Targets of Countywide Drive : Solid waste management officials are granting consumers amnesty for disposal.

Everybody around here discards a tire every year, or so it seems to David Goldstein of the County of Ventura Solid Waste Management Department. Locally, we toss half a million of the things annually--our expensive, unsightly, resource-wasteful contribution to the 240-million tire rubber serpent that America spawns every year.

“But why worry?” you might ask. Goldstein can count off a lot of reasons--and he’s presiding over a countywide program this month to address some of the problems. Feb. 25 is going to be “Waste Tire Amnesty Day,” one of the first major event of its kind in the nation. Nine designated locations will be accepting old tires--for recycling if they’re suitable or, if not, for free disposal in landfills--minus the usual $5 fee per tire. It is currently against the law hereabouts to put them in regular refuse bins.

“Local farmers are victims of (illegal) tire dumping on their land,” Goldstein says, “and people are throwing them into dumpsters at grocery stores and stacking them up in home garages. They pose risks of fires in dry weather and breed mosquitoes and rats in wet weather.”

According to tire industry experts, there are 2 billion discarded tires strewn about the nation above ground--and uncounted millions buried in U.S. landfills. Currently, only a little more than 10% of used tires are ever recapped or recycled for asphalt or electrical generator fuel.

Goldstein has also calculated that we’re throwing away money as well as tires. He says we should buy longer-lasting tires in the first place, rotate them regularly and keep them properly inflated. “By buying 50,000-mile tires instead of 30,000 milers and keeping them up, you can cut the waste by two-fifths.”

Under-inflation of any tire--cheap or expensive--shortens its life by 20% and lowers your fuel efficiency. Earthwatch has gone so far as to research the cumulative effect this has been having on oil imports and the U.S. balance of payments: it’s 21 million barrels or over $2 billion wasted annually.

Goldstein has coined a slogan, “Keep Your Tires Alive” and he’s gotten all 54 of our county’s tire dealers to join in this month to promote it. It’s in their interest, after all, to sell fewer, but more expensive tires. You may have seen the signs in their shops announcing Tire Amnesty Day. Local folks are being asked to make appointments to show up on the 25th, schlepping whatever worn-out tires they’ve let accumulate or any they have found tossed on their property.

The amnesty sites are the Baillard Landfill, plus all seven Parnelli Jones stores around the county and Cogg’s Tires in Oxnard. The landfill will waive its usual $5 fee and the dealers will waive the buck or two they get if you drop worn tires off without buying new ones.

Generally speaking, when you buy fresh tires, you leave the old ones with the dealer who has to pay to have them trucked away. Those tires end up being sorted for possible retreading, for sale as used, for shredding as pavement ingredients for some California highways, for burning as generator fuel--but most, due to excess wear, are fit only for the landfill.

Concerning retreads, loyal Earthwatch readers will remember a column some time ago pointing out that America’s fleet of fighter planes uses retread tires, as does every one of the world’s commercial airline companies. Which is to say, they’re safe products.

Lately, it’s come to light that nearly 100% of off-road heavy duty vehicles in mines and forests have retreads on them. Increasingly, the nation’s trucks and school buses have been using retreads--for reasons of safety and economy. Cogg’s does retreads for 16 wheelers on the site in Oxnard. But the company doesn’t do many for passenger vehicles because the low price of new tires for cars has dampened the demand for retreads in that category.

On the 25th, let’s do our part, if it’s appropriate--and on other days of the year follow Goldstein’s advice and “keep your tires alive.”

Details

* FYI: Between now and Feb. 25 is the time to call 648-9242 for an appointment to take advantage of “Ventura County Tire Amnesty Day.” On that day, nine sites countywide will, for free, accept waste tires from folks who have been storing them or had them illegally dumped on their property.