- Over 10,000 tires accumulated north of Canon City will be cleaned up with funds from a State Waste Tire Program Grant
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) has awarded a grant to Fremont County to clean up a large pile of waste tires on private property on the north side of Cañon City. Fremont County’s Code Enforcement Division was notified of the grant award in the amount of $30,250 several weeks ago and the clean up of 10,000 waste tires got underway this week.
Fremont County Commission Chairman Ed Norden said when the county learned of available money in CDPHE’s Illegal Waste Tire Program, past problems with an existing waste tire collection north of Cañon City came to mind. Code Enforcement Officers have been working with the property owner for over six years to clean up the tires which at one time numbered more than 20,000. Norden said when Code Enforcement Officer Robert Sapp began to put the grant application together last fall, Geocycle of Colorado Springs agreed to be a cooperating partner in the tire cleanup application. Geocycle is the tire recycling firm associated with the Holcim Cement Plant at Portland. Sapp said a crew from Geocycle has been busy loading and hauling away the 10,000 tires this week.
Sapp said the total cost of the waste tire cleanup is $35,250. Fremont County is providing the $5,000 match. The property owner will then reimburse Fremont County for his share of cleaning up the property. Sapp said the property owner will then cooperate to erect a six foot privacy fence on the perimeter of the property when the tires are gone.