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Philadelphians Cash in on Old Tires - EPA Grant to City Funds Scrap Tire Collection

Release Date: 9/26/2000
Contact Information: Ruth Wuenschel, (215) 814-5540

Ruth Wuenschel, 215-814-5540

PHILADELPHIA - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave a $30,000 grant to the City of Philadelphia to fund a citizens’ scrap tire collection program. The Streets Department will use the money to pay 50 cents for each tire turned in. Eventually, the tires will be crumbled for recycling.

“Scrap tires are an eyesore and an environmental hazard, especially when they wind up in illegal tire dumps. Those dumps breed insects and can lead to huge tire fires like the one that shut down Interstate 95 in the Northeast,” said Bradley Campbell, regional administrator for the EPA’s mid-Atlantic regional office.

“Philadelphia ran a very successful scrap tire collection from 1995 through 1998, but the program lacked funding during the last two years, so the EPA was glad to step in to keep this valuable program afloat,” Campbell added.

Block captains and community leaders are coordinating the collections in each neighborhood of the city. The tires will be sent to Domino Salvage in Conshohocken for processing into crumb rubber, which is often used to resurface roads. All participants in the scrap tire round-up will receive a pamphlet about the city’s recycling and composting programs.