The state Environmental Protection Commission has voted to spendtwo-and-a-half million dollars to clean up tires at two failed recyclingoperations –including one the state helped start. The Ervin company inOtho in Webster county contains a stockpile of an estimated three-milliontires, while the Rosebar stockpile in Vinton holds an estimated400-thousand. The Administrator of the Waste Management Assistance Divison,Roya Stanley, says the commission agreed to clean up the tires to get rid ofa serious health hazard.Stanley says the tire piles are a breeding ground for rats, mice andmosquitoes. She says they can also be dangerous if they catch fire. Stanleysays one of the owners is paying a small part of the clean up costs.D-N-R environmental specialist Mel Pins says the original owner of the Rosbarbusiness received 365-thousand dollar in a state grant to purchase machineryto get the business going. Pins says a subsequent owner received 50-thousanddollars in state money to reorganize the tire piles to make them safer. Pinssays the business had finanical troubles and failed. Stanley says the tiresat both sites will be recycled.Two companies from Minnesota and Des Moines will begin removing the tirepiles July 1st. The tire will be ground up to be used as fuel.
Iowa's Radio News Network
