DNR Expressing Concerns About Funding For Waste Tire Clean-Up

A warning that the Legislature’s refusal to continue a little fee could create a health hazard in Missouri comes from the man in charge of waste tire cleanup for the Natural Resources Department. The fee is collected when new tires are purchased. It’s used to properly dispose of the old ones. But, Director Roger Randolph with the state solid waste program says the Legislature’s failure to act means money will run out with millions of waste tires still in the environment – breeding grounds for mosquitoes, especially those carrying the west nile virus. He says his crews will go full bore until lack of money stops them. Since last November first, DNR has pinpointed 93 previously-unrecorded illegal tire dumps.