Pinellas Offers Free Tire Disposal Event For Residents

LARGO, FL – Recycling tires in Pinellas County doesn’t just make for a cleaner environment – it helps keep the lights on.

That’s partly why Pinellas County is hosting a free waste tire disposal day for its residents on Saturday, Jan. 21 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. County residents will be able to bring up to 12 tires, each less than 36 inches, per customer.

Tires will be accepted with or without rims at the following locations:

• Anderson Park, 39699 U.S. Highway N., Tarpon Springs
• John Chesnut Park, 2200 East Lake Road, Palm Harbor
• Eagle Lake Park, 1800 Keene Road, Largo
• Walsingham Park, 12615 102nd Ave., Seminole
• Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, 1101 Country Club Way S., St. Petersburg
• Pinellas County Solid Waste, 3095 114th Ave. N., St. Petersburg

The tire disposal event is open to Pinellas County residents only and proof of identification will be required.

The county will process the collected tires through Pinellas County’s Waste-to-Energy facility, which generates enough electricity to power 40,000 homes a day. Additionally, metal from the tires will be recovered from the remaining ash and recycled.

The free tire disposal event, held in partnership with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Pinellas County Solid Waste and Pinellas County Mosquito Control, also is part of a continuing effort to reduce the spread of mosquitoes and mosquito-borne illnesses.

“The tires collected will remove mosquito breeding habitats from our environment,” said Pinellas County Vegetation Management & Mosquito Control Manager Brian Lawton. “Eliminating these habitats reduces the population of adult mosquitoes and reduces the threat from mosquito-transmitted diseases such as Chikungunya, Dengue and Zika.”

For more information, contact Pinellas county Mosquito Control at (727) 464-7503 or visit http://www.pinellascounty.org/resident/mosquito_control.htm.

Image via Alexander G, Flickr, used under Creative Commons