A potential speedbump for tire dealers and the general public has been smoothed out, and will bring the territory's first tire shredder to St. Thomas in the next 60 days. The shredder will also accommodate St. John.
After Wayne Callwood, acting commissioner of Public Works, announced late last year that whole tires could no longer be taken to the Bovoni Landfill, Enrique Rodriguez got busy. Rodriguez, general manager of Rodriguez Auto Parts, got together with his counterparts, and formed the Virgin Island Tire Dealers Association to deal with mutual problems. Rodriguez is chairman of the association.
In conjunction with Callwood, Sonia Nelthropp, PWD solid waste manager, and Bovoni landfill contractor Lester Ashby, owner of A-9 Trucking, the association has developed a temporary tire disposal plan for St. Thomas and St. John. They are also working on a similar plan for St. Croix.
The tire shredder is a substantial investment, costing between $180,000 and $400,000. Ashby has purchased the shredder, which will operate at a site near the landfill, not yet designated. The machine will reduce the volume of tire waste by about 90 percent. "You could almost hold the remains of a regular size tire in your two hands," Rodriguez said.
Shipping the tires off-island, Rodriguez said, wasn't really an option. "It would double the cost of tires," he said. The association has worked out a modest fee schedule for disposal of tires.
"So far," he said, "50 to 60 percent of my clients have declined to pay the fee." This poses problems. They cannot, by law, be left in dumpsters, or on the side of the road. The fine for littering is $1,000, he added.
Rodriguez said the shredder has a multitude of advantages. "No more mosquito havens – they love to breed in old tires," he said, "and the shredded tires are less of a fire hazard." The shredded material can be used for asphalt on roads and private driveways. It can't, however, be used on federally funded roads, Rodriguez said, though he isn't entirely clear what the reasoning is behind that.
Nelthropp approves the project. "The reality of it is that we have to get rid of this stuff, and we can't send it to Puerto Rico. They don't want our waste; they have enough trouble with their own stuff." Nelthropp and Rodriguez are working on getting legislation in place to make a mandatory
fee for tire shredding and or establish a law making it possible for dealers to incorporate the fee in new tire costs. This way, Rodriguez said, when road clean-ups are done the tires can be taken directly to the shredder as the shredding charge would already have been paid.
Nelthropp said she looks forward to the day when a solid waste facility at the landfill will do everything, with "cells" with vents to hold shredded tires as well as all other waste. Nelthropp said the Maguire Group is designing a plan now for a landfill design, and she is looking for a firm to conduct negotiations with a long term contractor for the fill project.
Rodriguez said the public can drop off tires between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday to Ashby at the landfill. Fees for the tires are:
– 15 inch rim $2.25
– 16-18 inch rim 4.00
– 18-24.5 inch rim 11.00
– over 24.5 inch rim 30.00.
Rodriguez was firm in his gratitude for Callwood, Nelthropp and Ashby's aid, "They made it happen," he said.
How about the taxi drivers? Rodriguez said at least 50 percent of the taxis have refused to pay the fee, objecting to the $4 cost (over the $2.25). "Their tires are that size," Rodriguez said. "I have no idea what they are doing with them."
On St. John, owners of E & C Service Station and O'Connor's Texaco Station, said the cost will be somewhat higher on St. John because of St. John the cost of shipping the tires to St. Thomas.
Rodriguez said the association is committed to environmental concerns. They are studying other uses for the tires shredder, such as the disposal of solid wastes, and recycling of the shredded tire material.
