The city of Santa Clarita collaborated with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works and the Los Angeles Conservation Corps to host a free tire collection event on Saturday.
The event took place at the Via Princessa Metrolink Station parking lot and started at 9 a.m. The event was originally scheduled to end at 1 p.m., but ended early due to the donation truck reaching full capacity.
“This is an overwhelming response,” said project technician Scott Bachrach. “An hour into the event and we have almost half the truck full. I imagine we’ve taken around 300 tires already this morning.”
Residents were invited to dispose of used and scrap tires.
Santa Clarita resident Michael, who declined to provide his last name, brought 13 tires to the event that he had stockpiled for a vehicle, that was eventually sold. Michael said that the environment is already polluted enough, so events like these help Santa Clarita stay cleaner.
“We (Santa Clarita) have a really good handle on how to deal with that,” said Michael.
Emmanuel Sahagun, another Santa Clarita resident, brought tires that he had lying in his backyard. Sahagun said that the tire event was not only beneficial for the environment, but also convenient to local residents to partake in the disposal.
“I think these are really convenient for everyone,” said Sahagun. “They just recognize that everyone has lots of priorities. I have a lot of stuff that needs to get cleaned up and I think it’s good that they always have these events.”
Twelve volunteers from the L.A. Conservation Corps were working the event, taking tires from residents’ vehicles and loading them into the truck.
American Reclamation took the donated tires to find an end user in any way possible and will separate any rims to recycle.
“They actually show that they care about the community and care about the people,” said Sahagun.
For more information on green resources in Santa Clarita visit GreenSantaClarita.com or call 661-286-4098.