ECTOR COUNTY, Texas — When it comes to littler, Ector County has more dumped tires than it does people. It is one of the most littered counties in the state of Texas when it comes to scrap tires.
There are a few million illegally dumped tires throughout the county that need to be cleaned up. On Tuesday, the Ector County Commissioners Court decided they are not rolling over the problem any longer.
They want a scrap tire facility built at 168 West 35 St. to tackle the issue.
“We are one of two most offending counties in the state having about 2-5 million abandoned illegal disposed tires in the state,” George Long, scrap tire facility attorney, said.
The illegally dumped tires are not just ugly, they are a huge health concern.
“Illegally dumped scrape tires harbor mosquitoes, which have diseases like Zika, Dengue," said Rickey George, director of Ector County Environmental Enforcement & Emergency Coordinator. "They’re home to rattlesnake dens, mice, rats and a lot of this scrap piles are near populated areas with kids and families.”
It's a dirty problem that is costly to clean up, too.
“$8 dollars is the fair market cost of collecting and disposing tires, and there’s about 5 million tires out here," Long said. "So that would cost the county about $40 million dollars which of course is prohibited.”
Ector County is working with Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on bringing an affordable way to fix the problem.
“Offering adult probationers the option of the prescribed number of tires and paying for their disposal as paying for their community service and fine," Long said. "This way we can get these tires picked up at absolutely no cost to the county.”
The tire processing facility is being built now in west Odessa.
There are still a lot of details being worked out but equipment has been bought that will chip the tires.
As far as when you can drop off your tires, the facility is set to open to the public in October.