Jun. 10—Hundreds of tons of scrap tires are disposed of properly every year at the Montgomery County transfer and recycling facility, but local health and environmental officials say all too often people illegally dump tires at sites across the community.

This frustrates local leaders since county residents are permitted to dispose of 10 tires a year for free, and there are resources available to remove large tire piles on local properties.

“Because scrap tires can be fire hazards and breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitoes, we urge the public to report tire dumping (and other open dumping) to either our agency or a local health department,” said Dina Pierce, a spokesperson for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

Illegal dumping occurs when people discard items — like trash, debris and tires — on someone else’s property, said Megan O’Leary, public information officer with Montgomery County Environmental Services.

Montgomery County residents who witness or who are victims of illegal dumping of tires or other items should contact the Montgomery County Environmental Crimes Task Force at 937-225-4357.

Montgomery County Environmental Services has received 40 complaints about illegal dumping this year, through May. The agency received roughly 115 illegal dumping complaints in both 2023 and 2022. The agency does not keep data about tire dumping specifically.

Tire dumping can lead to fines of $10,000 or more and can carry prison sentences of two or more years, O’Leary said. Local officials said tire dumping is inexcusable given the convenient and inexpensive ways to properly get rid of the scrap items.

Montgomery County residents can dispose of 10 tires every year for free at the solid waste and recycling facility at 1001 Encrete Lane in Moraine. After 10 tires, residents will be charged for each tire they take to the facility to recycle.

The price to dispose of other tires is $280 per ton for county residents, but people with small numbers of tires to recycle face significantly smaller fees.

Montgomery County also hosts an annual tire buy-back event, usually in September, where residents can bring up to 10 tires per vehicle and receive $2 for each one.

More than 760 tons of tires were accepted by the solid waste and recycling facility last year, and more than 933 tons were accepted in 2022. Those totals do not include tires collected during the annual buy-back events.

Public Health — Dayton & Montgomery County also accepts reports about tire dumping. Public Health already has received six tire dumping complaints this year — twice as many as the agency received in 2023. The agency received five complaints in 2022.

Dan Suffoletto, public information manager with Public Health — Dayton & Montgomery County, said property owners are responsible for tires on their properties, regardless of how they ended up there.

The Ohio EPA has a no-fault scrap tire remediation program that helps remove and clean up tire piles on private and public properties across the state. The program is meant to assist victims of tire dumping but generally sites need to have at least 100 scrap tires to qualify.