CENTERTON — Worn out tires may soon have a destination other than a landfill when a planned tire recycling facility is in operation in Clarksville.
The Benton County Regional Solid Waste Management District’s board heard a report Thursday from Frank Baker, tire facility manager for the West River Valley Regional Solid Waste Management District in Clarksville.
Benton County has sent used tires to Clarksville for some time as that district has worked to open a plant to shred the tires and turn them into marketable products.
Baker said the facility, scheduled to open in December, will have a number of shredders to separate rubber from the wires and cord and reduce remnants to small particles that can be used in a variety of ways. Baker said recycled rubber can be used as fuel, rubber mulch and rubberized asphalt.
At A Glance
County Cleanup
Benton County’s annual fall cleanup is scheduled from 8 a.m. to noon Oct. 26, according to Teresa Sidwell, environmental coordinator. The cleanup event will be at Road Department locations in Bentonville, Garfield and Decatur. Sidwell said more information can be found at www.bccleanup.org.
Source: Staff Report
Baker said his district has accepted 76,190 used tires from Benton County this year, 29 percent of the total collected. Baker said he expected the district will handle more than 1 million tires in 2013. He said the facility will hopefully allow the West River Valley district to turn the tires into revenue-producing products.
“Right now, we’re not producing any revenue,” Baker said. “What we’re hoping to do is to turn that around.”
Wendy Cravens, director of Benton County's district, said tires sent to Clarksville would end up in a landfill if the West River district’s plans don’t succeed.
“It’s a huge step in the right direction,” Cravens said, adding creating a variety of rubber products should help. “Whatever the market is at a given time, they’ll be able to flow with the market.”
Cravens said the Benton County district’s lawsuit against the Boston Mountain Regional Solid Waste Management District is still pending in Circuit Court.
State laws require landfills collect $1.50 per ton of waste for solid waste districts. Districts that don’t have landfills, such as Benton County, must have agreements about how to split that revenue with those that do, such as Boston Mountain. The two districts must equally split the $1.50 fee when there's no formal agreement, according to state law.
The Boston Mountain district’s board decided May 19, 2011, to enter into an agreement with the Benton County district for the division of waste assessment fees. The two reached an agreement May 26, 2011, according to the lawsuit. The districts agreed the entire waste assessment fee would be paid to the generating district, then divided between the two when waste was generated in one district then deposited in the other.
The contract called for the agreement to end May 1, 2016, but Boston Mountain’s board decided May 9 to withdraw from the agreement, according to court documents. The Boston Mountain district has refused to pay the full waste assessment fee to the Benton County district for waste generated within the Benton County district and transported to Boston Mountain.
The lawsuit, assigned to Circuit Judge Xollie Duncan, seeks more than $75,000 in damages. The Eco Vista Landfill near Tontitown sent about $260,000 annually, or the entire $1.50 fee, to the Benton County district from solid waste generated in the county, officials from both districts said in May. The Benton County district would receive half that amount without an agreement.
Cravens said Boston Mountain lawyers filed a response denying Benton County’s claims, and a counter-complaint alleging the original contract was illegal.
“We’re basically waiting now for the judge to set a date for a hearing,” Cravens said.