Tires being dumped in county forests
By Richard Blanchard

Tighter provincial enforcement and legislation might alleviate the problem with the dumping of waste tires throughout the county.

Simcoe county warden Tony Guergis told Corporate Services recently that much of the problem might be tackled if individual product codes were placed on the tires.

"I understand that all other automobile products have individual product codes.

"If they were in place, garages and other businesses who take in tires, could easily enter them into a tire registry," he said.

The database would allow to track their disposal said Guergis.

County councillors debated a resolution from the western Ontario municipality of Morris-Turnberry about the problems with tire disposal.

Guergis said that some individuals had disposed of thousands of used tires in the Minesing Swamp in his municipality. "It was a major cleanup job," he said.

Rob McCullough of the Environmental Services department said that there were a number of methods of disposing of tires including burning them in cement manufacturing kilns and recycling in asphalt for roads.

"The province currently does not allow their use in cement manufacture," he said.

The Environmental Services department will report on the tire issue in the near future.