Lincoln County has been awarded a $50,000 waste tire grant to continue a local tire collection program.

It’s not guaranteed from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, but it comes often enough that supervisors rely on it.

Tires can be brought to the District 2 County Barn at 1211 Hwy. 51 NE for disposal. They’re stacked up inside the fenced property and picked up by a company in Jackson, said County Administrator David Fields.

Without the grant, supervisors would be forced to pay for tire disposal out of their district coffers. Ending the tire-collection program is not an option, he said.

“If we didn’t provide a place for them to dump it, they’d be dumped at every creek crossing and we’d be cleaning those up with the illegal dumps. It gives a good place for folks to bring their tires. They’re going to get rid of them somewhere.”

Fields prefers the public use the county barn in District 2. That keeps them in one location for easy pickup. The grant pays for the disposal.

“That’s the money we use to dispose of them,” said County Administrator David Fields. “The company comes and picks them up regularly.”

Funding for waste tire grants is provided by a waste tire account funded from a fee charged on the wholesale sale of every new motor vehicle tire sold in Mississippi. This fee provides the funds to ensure and encourage the proper management and disposal of waste tires, he said.

Fields applies for the grant annually, but supervisors have two years to spend the money. However, it almost takes the full amount each year to pay for the tire disposal, he said.

Businesses are not welcome to use the county’s disposal.

“They’re not supposed to bring them out there and they’ll usually tell them no. This is for individuals that do their own, or keep their tires when they change tires they can bring them and dispose of them there,” she said.