Wednesday, October 30, 2002

Levinson Announces Contract for Completion of Scrap Tire Cleanup

The cleanup of one of Atlantic County's largest tire dumps will soon be completed, according to County Executive Dennis Levinson, as he announced a contract for the removal of 1,500 tons of tires that remain on the former Perona Brothers junkyard property in Mullica Township.

The $217,500 contract is the result of a grant from the State Department of Environmental Protection's Scrap Tire Remediation Fund for the removal of abandoned tires in an effort to combat the spread of mosquito-borne illnesses such as West Nile virus.

"Abandoned tires pose many threats - to our health, our safety and our environment. That is why we have repeatedly applied for funds to have them removed," Levinson said.

The county received $130,000 from the Scrap Tire Remediation Fund last year and successfully removed 727 tons of passenger tires from the same site, located at 4645 White Horse Pike. Public Health Officer Tracye McArdle noted that this year's funding was competitively issued to counties demonstrating the greatest need, rather than by their number of total road miles.

"Last year we removed more than 81,000 tires from our environment through tire cleanups and tire roundups. Now we expect to remove an additional 90,000 tires. This is just one more way in which Atlantic County is working to control its mosquito populations and the spread of disease and illness," concluded Levinson.

An estimated 1,500 tons of tires remain on site, of which approximately 75,000 are passenger tires and 15,000 are truck tires. The tires were segregated by the previous contractor for efficient loading and transport. The county has filed a complaint in Superior Court to recover cleanup costs from the responsible parties.

For more information, please contact Tracye McArdle, Public Health Officer, at (609) 645-7700, ext. 4349.

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