City of Tyler to enforce tire disposal fee

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - The City of Tyler will begin enforcing a $5 fee to properly dispose of tires due to an increase in the number thrown away in city limits, according to a city official.

Tires are considered special waste by disposal standards, so city sanitation crews can’t pick them up and mix them with normal trash. That means sanitation crews must make a special trip to pick up tires to properly dispose of them.

“That $5 fee with cover us picking them up, getting them over [to the Garbage Disposal Facility],” Leroy Sparrow, the director of Tyler’s Solid Waste Department. “They also have to be cut before we can dispose of them in the landfill. So, that charge will take care of that process and recover the cost for that process.”

It is unlawful to allow rubbish, including “newspapers, refrigerators, stoves, furniture, tires, cans and appliances, trash, garbage, refuse, junk, or debris to collect” upon a premises, according to City of Tyler code enforcement.

Starting Oct. 1, 2019, anyone who needs to dispose of tires can call to make a pick-up appointment with the Solid Waste Office.

“If you don’t schedule one after October 1st, it will be handled as discarded property,” Sparrow explained. “If they’re out there for more than two days then they’ll still be picked up and assessed the $5 charge."

Sparrow added that if you choose to drop tires off at the landfill instead, a $5 fee will still be assessed.

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