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HOUGHTON -- Superior Watershed Partnership is giving residents in Houghton County’s Adams, Portage and Chassell Townships the opporunity to recycle old automobile tires. On Saturday, residents of those three townships can bring up to 10 tires per household to 20251 B. F. Gundlach Rd next to Houghton High School.
Special Projects Coordinator Kathleen Henry said Superior Watershed Partnership hosts many recycling initiatives throughout the U.P. with this particular initiative becoming very popular.
"Superior Watershed Partnership has been working with the State of Michigan and Upper Peninsula communities for years to host community scrap tire collection events," she said. "I help coordinate with local municipalities and governments to schedule the community collection events."
According to Henry, tires can be a nuisance to get rid of, as well as be a danger to the environment if left undisposed, due to them not naturally breaking down. "We don't want tires to be improperly disposed of and if they're left out in especially natural areas," she said. "We just want to be sure they're being handled properly."
Since only a few, more remote, townships in the county were invited to recycle their tires Saturday, Henry said giving access and the ability for these more rural communities to properly handle their scrap tires is the best solution. "I think access to recycling and properly disposing tires is lacking here in the Upper Peninsula," she said. "We really try to fill that gap."
Tires will be loaded into a trailer on-site, then they will be taken to a downstate recycling facility. Henry added Superior Watershed Partnership will not be taking any business tires, no agricultural tires and no rims. She said she expects the take-back event to be busy since this only happens once in a while.
Townships residents are assigned specific times to drop off their scrap tires:
9-11 a.m. – Portage Township
11 a.m. – 1 p.m. – Adams Township
1-3 p.m. – Chassell Township
For more information, visit superiorwatersheds.org.