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Richard Blom, a horse rancher from Barrington, had old truck tires piling up all over the place on his ranch. With landfills no longer accepting the tires, he wasn’t sure what to do with them. But, earlier this week he found a legal place to dump the tires that was more than willing to take them off his hands and away from his ranch.
Blom, like hundreds of other people, showed up at the Lake County Fairgrounds ready to unload unwanted tires as part of a tire and oil collection sponsored by The Lake County Farm Bureau and the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County (SWALCO). The event, held May 13, was the latest in a series of area mobile collection events held throughout the county.
As Blom approached, workers rushed forward to help him unload the old tires, adding them to a growing pile, which by 10 a.m. covered more than an acre of land at the fairgrounds.
SWALCO regularly holds electronics and household chemical collections, said Farm Bureau manager Greg Koeppen. But it's been years since the last tire collection.
"The last one took in around 60 tons of tires, and we expect to surpass that by far this time," said Koeppen.
People hauling barrels and other containers full of used oil lined up in pick-up trucks and SUVs, but the tire collection had much larger vehicles, like dump trucks and flatbed trailers, lined up for blocks when the event began at 9 a.m. Agency engineer Steve Nelson was not surprised by the turnout.
"We do tires and oil collection like this less often, about every eight to 10 years," Nelson said. "A lot of donors are using farm equipment and other commercial vehicles, and the waste material adds up."
SWALCO Public Information Officer Merleanne Rampale said the event collected more than 13,000 used tires and approximately 1,705 gallons of used oil in a single day.
Aside from keeping the tires out of landfills, Rampale said that gathering the unusable tires will help decrease breeding areas for disease-spreading mosquitoes.
From the fairgrounds, the tires will be shipped to a processing plant in Iowa, where they will be shredded and the rubber repurposed for industrial use in coal mines and various pavement surfaces, Koeppen said.
The oil will be re-refined into base stock for lubricating oil and other products. Collection of the tires and oil was free, but SWALCO encouraged a $2 donation to be put toward Farm Bureau agricultural education programs.
Antioch construction excavator Greg Nerroth said his vehicles go through a lot of tires while digging holes for building foundations. He brought in a load of tires in a truck and trailer.
"We had a lot of tires around from off road trucks and other vehicles, and now we'll be able to put them to use," Nerroth said.
The agency has scheduled more mobile collection events throughout the year. People wanting to drop off solid waste can also make an appointment with SWALCO at its Gurnee facility. Waste will be accepted from Illinois residents only.
For more information, please call SWALCO at 847-336-9340 or visit the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County Web site at www.swalco.org.
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Photos: Brian Thomas, NeighborhoodCircle.com
