YOUNGSTOWN Tired out? Collection set for rubber to burn
Sponsors say the project benefits everyone.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Bring your worn, your used, your downtrodden and just plain useless -- tires?
That will be the collection cry from students in Poland, Springfield Local and Mohawk school districts May 11 as part of the Essroc Co.'s Scrap Tire Rollout.
For the third time in six years, company officials and school groups have joined forces in collecting old tires to be used in the company's cement-making process.
Paul Landman, Essroc administrative manager, said previous drives have brought in more than 6,000 scrap tires from the region's landscape. A total of 6 million scrap tires have been used at the Bessemer, Pa., plant. Landman is hoping to pull in between 2,000 and 3,000 tires in this effort.
Essroc uses tires to supplement the coal that fires the kiln in its cement making process. To date, Landman said, tires have saved more than 100,000 tons of coal.
Drop-off time
Residents may drop off tires for any car or noncommercial truck at any of the high schools in the three districts between 9 and 11 a.m. Besides ridding area back yards and highways of old, unsightly and sometimes dangerous tires, Landman said the program is beneficial to students.
Volunteers at each school will collect a small fee for each tire. The money will go toward activities by each individual school group. Essroc will match the money collected by the schools with contributions of up to $1,000.
The tires are taken to the Essroc plant, where they are dumped into a sorting bin and weighed. Tires that meet the system's weight specifications are then sent to one of two 450-foot kilns, where they are melted.
"Nothing is wasted," said Landman. "This allows us to burn less coal and come out with a better product because the steel and iron in tires are beneficial to our process."
jgoodwin@vindy.com