Highly Successful Tioga County Tire Recycling Program Paid for by Upstate Shredding

OWEGO, NY, November 18, 2010 (Press-News.org) Due to a $10,000 dollar a year, five-year donation totaling $50,000 from businessman Adam Weitsman, president of Owego-based Upstate Shredding, Tioga County is cleaning up more old tires than ever before. Moreover, this innovative, highly successful tire recovery program is helping preserve the scenic beauty of this historic, rural county in the southeastern corner of the Finger Lakes Region.

""I have to give Adam credit. He's donating this money to clean up these tires and he gets very little from it aside from beautifying the county," said Ellen Pratt, Tioga's solid waste manager. "There's been a noticeable decline in the number of tires littering the county. We used to see it all the time, but now we only see it occasionally. I used to have residents call and let me know about abandoned tires, but now I'm not getting those calls," she added.

Weitsman commented on the program: "We have two scrap metal processing and recycling facilities in Owego and our company is extremely environmentally conscious at all our other operations. This is one small way of telling the community that responsible recycling benefits everyone."

Before the Upstate donation, Toga County's solid waste budget was stretched tight and there was little money to address the nagging, unsightly, and environmentally hazardous problem of recovering and responsibly recycling used tires. New York State's Waste Tire Management and Recycling Act was enacted solely to ensure the proper management of waste tires. To comply, Tioga has to ship its tires to a certified recycler at a cost of over $100 dollars per load.

As a result, Tioga, like many solid waste jurisdictions across the country, was forced to charge fees to accept old tires at their recycling facilities. Fees range from $2.00 dollars for 17-inch tires to $12.00 dollars for 36-inch, and there are additional fees up to $5.00 dollars if tires are mounted on rims.

The national problem with fee-based municipal programs is that it encourages hording, or illegal dumping, both endangering the environment and causing fire hazards.

Under the Upstate sponsored program, Tioga County is now holding free, three-time-a year, tire drop-off events each lasting from three days to one week in the towns of Owego, Barton, Candor, Spencer and Tioga. ""In the towns that have participated, it has been really successful. They are enthusiastic about cleaning up their old tires. So far, we have cleaned up over 250 tons of tires. Upstate's donation covers the cost of disposal," said Pratt. In addition to providing free tire disposal for residents and businesses, the program also accepts tires collected along the roads by municipal workers.

Upstate Shredding - Ben Weitsman is the largest privately owned scrap metal processor and recycling center on the east coast. With two locations in Owego and facilities in Binghamton, Ithaca, Jamestown, Liberty and Syracuse, New York and in Towanda, Pennsylvania, the Company processes more than 700,000 tons of ferrous and 100 million pounds of non ferrous metal per year. In the 2010 issue of Inc. Magazine entitled "500," Upstate rated as the country's fastest growing privately held scrap metal processing company with a 186 percent growth rate from 2006 through 2009.

Upstate Shredding is the largest privately held scrap metal processor and recycling center on the East Coast. Along with sister company Ben Weitsman & Son Inc., there are four locations in New York: Owego, Binghamton, Syracuse, and Ithaca.