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Above the Waterline
Sally Bethea
Volunteer Adam Horrisberger pulls a tire out of the river during Chattahoochee Riverkeeper’s art
nual Sweep the Hooch cleanup.
ZIKA VIRUS DRIVES
SCRAP TIRE CLEANUP
A line of men in orange vests and
helmets formed a brigade, moving
hundreds of mud-caked and water-
filled auto and truck tires out of
Proctor Creek and up the bank into
waiting trucks.
I watched them from the middle of
the stream where I stood in my rubber
boots taking pictures and cheering
them on.
For a year - in 1999 - these men
mined trash from 37 miles of streams
flowing through the city of Atlanta
into the Chattahoochee River. Their
job - a requirement of the settlement
of Chattahoochee Riverkeeper’s
lawsuit against the city for clean water
violations - was to remove every piece
of trash bigger than a cigarette butt.
When the project was completed,
568 tons of man-made debris had been
pulled from city waterways, including
90 tons of tires. Lined up edge to edge,
the tires would have stretched more
than three and a half miles.
Sixteen years later, tires are still
being pulled out of local rivers and
their tributaries: nearly 200 were found
in city streams and the Chattahoochee
during the annual Sweep the Hooch
event in April. That same month, the
city of Atlanta collected more than
8,000 tires through an amnesty (free-
disposal) program, recycling them into
fuel, crumb rubber, mulch and urban
asphalt.
Abandoned tires are unsightly
and can cause environmental harm;
however, the biggest threat to public
health and safety is the fact that they
collect rainwater and serve as fertile
breeding grounds for mosquitos that
can carry diseases such as the Zika
virus.
This virus, which can cause serious
birth defects and a neurological
condition called Guillain-Barre
WHAT YOU
CAN DO
Keep Atlanta Beautiful
Contact to volunteer, report illegally
dumped scrap tires or for questions
at (404) 330-6721 or kngreenlee@
atlanta.ga.gov.
City of Atlanta Recycle Day
Every third Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon,
at The Mall West End, 850 Oak St.
Unlimited tire disposal at no charge.
The Center for Hard to Recycle
Materials (ChaRM)
1110 Hill Street SE; Tuesday and
Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4p.m.; Saturday,
8 a.m. to 4 p.m. No charge for first
two tires, each additional $2.
State Legislators
To find your state representatives,
visit mvp.sos.ga.gov/MVP.do.
syndrome, has significantly affected
many countries in Latin America;
the degree to which it will impact the
United States remains uncertain, but
precautions should be taken.
Statewide, the Georgia
Environmental Protection Division
(EPD) estimates that it has removed
about 15 million tires from illegal
dumping places since a law passed in
1992 mandating a $1 fee on every tire
sold in the state to support a cleanup
trust fund.
While this number is impressive,
much more could be accomplished
to eradicate the tire problem, if our
state legislators would appropriate all
the funds collected each year for their
intended purpose. During the 2016
legislative session, less than half of
the money collected was appropriated
to support cleanup, enforcement,
education and local reimbursement
programs.
Officials say that most of the illegal
tire dumping is the result of “mom
and pop” hauling operations that
fail to properly dispose of the tires,
instead off-loading them along roads,
vacant lots, creeks and even in church
dumpsters.
The midnight dumping increased
during the Great Recession when
government agencies lost inspection
and enforcement staff. The city
of Atlanta recently hired a code
enforcement officer whose sole job is
to handle scrap tires, and EPD now
has eight people working on the tire
program throughout Georgia.
To keep our communities healthy
and safe, we all need to pitch in and
help: volunteer for a cleanup, report
illegal tire dumping and dispose of your
own tires properly. And, tell your state
legislators to put the trust back in the
tire trust fund by appropriating all the
money collected annually to get scrap
tires out of our neighborhoods. 03
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AtlantalNtownPaper.com
June 2016 | INtOWIl 23