BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — Martin County collected 14,238 tires during a three-day waste-tire collection event March 30-April 1.

“That’s 14,238 tires that we don’t have to worry about being burned, buried or in a creek somewhere,” Martin County solid waste coordinator Eric Phelps said. “Any number is a good number, and that’s significant. We’re in the right process of getting our county cleaned up.”

The event was sponsored by the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection with funding from the state’s $2 tire disposal fee imposed on each new tire sold at retail.

“The state covered all the expense, but this isn’t an annual event,” Phelps said, adding that the county conducts an event each year using an annual waste tire grant.

“The state gives us money to do an annual tire event ourselves,” said Phelps. “We can still dispose of any tires in our community.”

Phelps plans to use the remaining funds from that grant to hire Porter Tire Services to bring a trailer in for more tire collection.

“Hopefully, we can collect some more tires before June 30, the end of the fiscal year,” said Phelps.

The county can apply for a new grant for the new fiscal year that begins July 1.