Staff reports

ASHEVILLE - Tires abandoned on the roadsides and river banks are not only unsightly and illegal, they are also potential Petri dishes for mosquito-borne diseases.

To help alleviate all of those concerns, Asheville GreenWorks is teaming up with Buncombe County Solid Waste, Biltmore Iron & Metal Co., and the Buncombe County Health Department for Tire Amnesty Days May 14 and 15.

This free public tire collection event comes around twice a year to promote alternative modes of recycling for the City of Asheville and Buncombe County.

The tire collection will be at the Asheville Mall Sears parking lot, where volunteers and sponsors will accept any type of tires, on or off rim, from residents of Buncombe County, said Eric Bradford, Asheville GreenWorks director of operations.

There's no limit to the number of tires you can bring to Tire Amnesty Days, but a valid ID or most recent water bill is required to show proof of Buncombe County residency, he said.

The event is geared toward the general public and not to area businesses. Local businesses that need to dispose of tires can contact the GreenWorks office for more information, Bradford said.

Along with sprucing up Asheville, removing tires can have health benefits, said Jan Shepard, Buncombe County Health Department’s Health Division Director. The department is working with Tire Amnesty Days to get out the word about “Tip and Toss.”

“’Tip and Toss’ is a campaign urging the public to tip and toss any standing water from things like containers, tires, toys, or bird baths to help keep the mosquito population low,” Shepard said.

“We are trying to encourage people to look around and take steps to eliminate sources of mosquito hatch sites because mosquitoes spread some pretty scary illnesses that are particularly dangerous for children.”

Mosquitoes don’t travel far from where they were born so, if you have mosquitoes around your home, they probably hatched nearby, said Buncombe County Medical Director, Dr. Jennifer Mullendore.

“Mosquitoes in Buncombe County can infect people with dangerous diseases like La Crosse Encephalitis, the most common mosquito-borne infection native to Western North Carolina. La Crosse encephalitis is more common in children and can cause swelling of the brain and possible long term disability.”

It only takes a tiny amount of standing water to hatch hundreds of mosquitoes, and discarded tires are a mosquito’s favorite place to lay eggs, Shepard said.

“Initiatives like Asheville Greenwork’s Tire Amnesty days are helpful to our community because the more tires that are removed and recycled, the more we reduce the mosquito population, which makes the outdoors a safer and cleaner place for children in our county.”

Asheville GreenWorks hosts Tire Amnesty Days twice a year, for four days total each year. Over the past two Tire Amnesty Days, the group collected, 3,455 tires. To recycle tires yourself by bringing them to the landfill costs $2 per tire.

Tires collected will be properly recycled in Concord, North Carolina, by Liberty Tire Recycling.

Got tires?

Asheville GreenWorks Tire Amnesty Days will be 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, May 14 and 15, at Sears Auto Center, 1 S Tunnel Road, Asheville.

For more information, or to volunteer, call GreenWorks operations director Eric Bradford at 254-1776 or email eric@ashevillegreenworks.org or visit www.ashevillegreenworks.org.