New funding helps Yuma address tire overflow
Adrik Vargas
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) – Yuma County is tackling a massive waste problem: More than 440,000 tires piled up at its facility. Officials say progress is underway, thanks to recent funding boosts and new policies.
“Last fiscal year, Yuma County Board of Supervisors gave us an additional $200,000 in our waste tire budget, and this made a big difference on how we were able to get those tires out,” said Kelly Fricke with the Department of Public Works. “It didn’t fix the problem, but it made a big difference.”
The tires are hauled to Phoenix by a rubber manufacturer to be recycled. But with thousands still remaining, the county is exploring long-term solutions, like purchasing its own shredder.
“Seeing what we can do in terms of trying to dispose of the tires using a tire shredder, because it’s cheaper to dispose of shreds than the actual tires,” said Santos Guerrero.
An additional $850,000 from the state could help clear the rest.
“I think it will allow us to clear out all the tires we have in our facility,” said Fricke.
The county also updated its tire drop-off rules. Residents can still bring in up to five tires a year for free and after that, there’s a per-tire fee.
“So, we’ll monitor that for a year or so, and if we do need to make additional changes that tire shredder could be an option in the future,” Guerrero added.
Officials say clearing the current backlog is only the beginning. A long-term fix is still in the works.