CalRecycle announces $5.7 million in tire enforcement grants

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Thirty-six jurisdictions within California will receive a total of $5.7 million from the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) to safely manage end-of-life and used tires.

CalRecycle’s Local Government Waste Tire Enforcement Grant Program is designed to ensure cities and counties in California have sufficient funding to enforce compliance for managing scrap and used tires, including safe hauling and storage. Typical expenditures include costs related to inspection of tire storage facilities and enforcement activities to prevent illegal dumping. Funds also can be used for surveillance equipment and employee training.

For rural counties, grant funding helps cover the cost of travel to more remote locations for inspections and enforcement, CalRecycle says. In Calaveras County, for example, many of the facilities and routine surveillance areas are more than an hour and a half from the county tire enforcement agency office.

“These grants ensure cities and counties have the means to enforce state laws that keep local residents and their environment safe,” CalRecycle Director Scott Smithline says. “Both illegal dumping and improper storage of waste and used tires create a host of problems for people and businesses, from visual blight to significant health hazards.”

Illegally stockpiled or dumped tires provide breeding habitats for disease-carrying mosquitos and other vectors. Scrap tire piles may also result in long-burning fires that release toxins into the air, water and soil.

The grants support activities to reduce threats to public health and safety or the environment. Factors considered in making these awards include the prevalence of illegal scrap tire dump sites identified in jurisdictional boundaries, the number of inspections completed in previous grant cycles and enforcement and surveillance activities conducted in previous grant cycles.

The following jurisdictions received grants in this cycle:

• Butte County, $47,073;
• Calaveras County, $46,006;
• City of Bakersfield, $51,425;
• City of Fresno, $282,253;
• City of Modesto, $38,615;
• City of San Diego, $203,713;
• City of Victorville, $62,482;
• Contra Costa County, $139,047;
• El Dorado County, $57,856;
• Fresno County, $300,000;
• Imperial County, $106,292;
• Kern County, $138,979;
• Los Angeles County, $600,000;
• Madera County, $175,891;
• Marin County, $45,907;
• Mendocino County, $24,630;
• Merced County, $139,561;
• Monterey County, $71,152;
• Napa County, $80,000;
• Nevada County, $35,823;
• Orange County, $382,581;
• Placer County, $201,268;
• Riverside County, $600,000;
• Sacramento County, $343,853;
• San Joaquin County, $249,029;
• San Luis Obispo County, $60,034;
• San Mateo County, $78,724;
• Santa Clara County, $104,815;
• Solano County, $150,316;
• Sonoma County, $160,035;
• Stanislaus County, $118,275;
• Tehama County, $50,624;
• Tuolumne County, $37,289;
• Yolo County, $88,994; and
• Yuba County, $93,776.

The waste tire enforcement grants are funded by a recycling fee assessed on new tires sold in California. More information on CalRecycle’s tire management grants, is available here.