On the family place, a long time ago before I was hatched, somone dumped a bunch of tires and things (I'm thinking somebody cleared out an old filling station). My family was absentee at the time. I hate to think what else went on out here all those years ago. Anyhow, we are wondering what to do with all those tires. I've been searching on the web looking for some kind of cleanup grant or something. The concrete kilns can't burn them anymore or thats what I've heard. Thought about calling the extension agent, but do no want to draw too much attention to it just yet. Can we be fined for this? A fire is out of the question. Any ideas/response will be appreciated. mc
A guy in this area made the news when somebody spotted a ravine filled with old tires on this guys property. The powers that be had big problem since the tires had been there before their was a law about old tires and dumping on private land. It was going to be very expensive to get rid of them and the owner couldnt pay and the local authority didnt want to pay. I dont really remember how they worked it out. So no, I wouldnt make this public unless you want huge hassles. Maybe consult a private lawyer to look into this. He could ask around without drawing attention. How many tires are we talking about? I mean this guy that made the news had probably thousands of tires. If you only have couple hundred or so then burn few in brush piles and maybe rent a backhoe and dig a few pits. Tires really dont leach that I know of, they just are breeding ground for mosquitoes thus considered a health hazard. Also a fire hazard if huge numbers of them. Somebody please post if its been proven they do leach into groundwater or soil.
burried tires "float" back up to the surface if the fill isnt heavy rock fill. build a wall...stack/stagger them and fill each course with dirt.
Midnight missions to the home of people you have no love for. Give the gift that keeps on polluting, give tires. If there is not too many cut them up and sneak them into your household trash every week, if you don't have trash service it would be well worth it just to get rid of the tires. Kirk
Yep, not terribly difficult to cut sidewalls out of tires with sharp utility knife. I used to make some planter by cutting one sidewall out and turning tire inside out. Tires with sidewalls cut compact greatly and no longer pose mosqito threat. Course if you have hundreds or thousands, contact an attorney. TX may well have some kind of program to clean up old tire dumps without trying to stick you with the bill. The trick is to find out without drawing attention to yourself.
How about offering them FREE for the pick up to those interested in RECYCLING to build EARTHSHIP homes?????? (New Mexico, and elsewhere?) I admit the thought had crossed my mind and I wondered at the time where the He** one could come up with all those tires
Chickflick, want some free tires? PM me and I'll tell you where to leave a trailer under the cover of darkness. Come back in a couple of nights and it will be loaded full. I can't risk any advertising as HermitJohn mentioned. They do make good fence extensions for fencing over creeks(split in half so defeat the mosquitoes). Used them on some other projects too but I'm to the point that I don't need the rest of them for anything. BTW, theres probably 300-400 of them, and I have no trash service. I want to do the right thing but I don't want to lose my rear-end in the process. The only super-fund that I can find for the state is for old gas tanks and it is bankrupt. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Dep. made a barrier out of some for the marina at the deep end of a lake(Joe Pool State Park). But I look at that as the Gov. and their attitude of "Do as I say and not as I Do". But I digress(don't get me started on Gov. Beaurocracies, I'll blow a gasket for sure). Thanks to each one of you for the input. mc
It sounds like you have a heck of a raised bed garden potential going there. I know that here the places that sell tires have to PAY to have the old ones dumped at the landfill and they give them away all the time. If you could get another person involved so that you don't give yourself away could you take a trailer of em and park em in town in a parking lot with a sign on em that says "free tires". or an ad in the paper? Surely someone around there might want some of em for crafts, etc. Oh, oh or maybe a college architectural (sp) department. I know that Auburn Univeristy built an earthship a few years back. I think that I am not being much help today.
C'mon people, recognize an asset when you hear it. Remember the old horse exhaust about when you have lemons make lemonade... I used a bunch of old tires to help me get across the creek. I managed to "pick up" a couple sections of 20 foot diameter culvert that was bolted together. I took it apart and used quarter sections for a "bridge." For the abutments I used old tires filled and pounded with gravel. Spent a little time with the backhoe digging in the creek, placing tires, filling them, stacking them until I was satisfied. Then Started the Cat and pushed dirt up onto the culverts burying everything. Oh my gosh, now I got a bridge and can get across that wretched creek with no problem. Other tires got used up in the same "Earthship" mode in making retaining walls. Once done, the part with dirt fill that was exposed got planted with good ground cover plants and now nobody can even tell there are tires there. So face it, you've got an asset in that pile of crummy old tires. Figure out where to use them. Beats all hollow paying to dump them and going to buy some concrete retaining wall blocks. Or whatever else you want to build on your place. Just takes some imagination and planning. Get with it. bearkiller
Mousecat, here are a few places you may be able to offload them for free. It might be some work without repayment, but is probably cheaper than a fine and court costs! Goat, horse and cow folks are always looking for old tires that have been turned "inside out" for use as feeders. There is some sort of machine that does the turning. Car tires for goats, light truck for horses and big rig/tractor for cows. If you can find a reasonable person to do the flipping, run an add to sell them so cheaply (but enough to pay for the flipping) no one will pass them by. Heavy haul companies use them to move track layers across paved roads. Dairy's use them, cut into halves, to tarp their hay. Power co-op's use them around power poles when in fields with cattle (avg 10 tires per pole here). I checked the net and found an EPA report http://www.epa.gov/region6/6xa/tires_epa.htm saying Texas cement kilns still burn millions of tires a year. Hope this helps out a bit. Your situation sucks at best :waa:
How many is many? Around here we have hazardous cleanup days once a year and you can take upto 10 auto tires/year to be dropped off. Maybe take a pile to a consignment auction. Wrap them as gifts for friends who visit
Shred them in a chipper and use them for mulch? If they're steel belted that wouldn't work, but straight rubber would, I think.
Doing the right thing is great. You had better be more concerned with the CMA issue. You seem like you understand this by not wanting to advertise. I have done business with the EPA before. Do whatever you have to to get rid of them in a way that they can't be traced back to you. Doing the right thing according to them will probably cost you about $3.00 per tire and months of abuse. If they track you down by your posting tell them that you were framed and shoot the first one that shows up at your place. It will be easier to get out of this than deal with the tires. Just kidding, however it really seems this way. Mike
Consider a classified ad along the line of "Free used tires. XXX-XXXX." Don't say how many use have. If someone calls just tell then all they want. Ken S. in WC TN
