DNREC’s recent scrap tire drop-off day in Laurel was the department’s most successful recycling event to date, netting more than 46 tons of scrap tires. That’s a lot of rubber for recycling – approximately 3,700 old, worn-out car tires that could have ended up in a mosquito-infested heap in a local neighborhood, or taking up valuable space in state landfills. The October 22 event at DelDOT’s Laurel Maintenance Yard allowed Delaware residents to recycle scrap tires free of charge, thereby helping to reduce the environmental and health hazards associated with piles of scrap tires in our communities.


The seven drop-off events sponsored by DNREC’s Division of Waste and Hazardous Substances over the last three years have collected more than 13,000 scrap tires. Residents from each of Delaware’s three counties have enthusiastically responded to DNREC’s recycling program by turning up with tons of old tires for recycling.



Delaware’s Scrap Tire Management Program was created to eliminate large, unsightly scrap tire piles that can contribute to dangerous fires producing toxic smoke and oily liquid runoff. The runoff can pollute Delaware’s surface water and groundwater resources. In addition, tire piles provide ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which can carry the West Nile virus.
The Delaware Scrap Tire Management Program is funded by a fee of $2 per tire on the sale of new tires. Enacted Jan. 1, 2007, the fee is diverted to the Scrap Tire Management Fund, a matching fund and program created to clean up existing scrap tire piles statewide.



For more information about the program and to inquire about future scrap tire drop-off events, visit DNREC’s website at Scrap tire control and cleanup program
, or contact the Scrap Tire Management Program at 302-739-9403.


Newark Post - Newark, DE Successful scrap tire drop-off day nets more than 46 tons of tires