The City of Yakima has a history of aggressively prosecuting people caught illegally dumping tires on both public and private property.  The fact that the City takes illegal tire dumping seriously impressed the Washington State Department of Ecology (“DOE”) enough that the agency recently awarded the City a grant to do an even better job.

A nearly $18,700 grant will allow the City to buy a video camera to monitor areas where tires are often illegally dumped, pay staff to clean up the tires, cover the cost of properly disposing of the tires, and educate tire store owners.  The City Council will consider a resolution formally accepting the grant at its September 20th business meeting.

Illegal tire dumping is a problem not only in Yakima but just about anywhere tire stores are located.  Tire store owners are often duped by dishonest trash haulers who charge a fee and promise to properly dispose of old tires.  Instead of taking the worn out tires to a landfill as they should, the illegitimate haulers dump them along roads, in alley ways, or anywhere else they can.

The video from the camera the City intends to buy with the grant money will be accessible wirelessly and the camera will be equipped with night vision capabilities.  It will be able to be easily relocated so it can monitor different areas on a rotating basis.

The City will use some of the grant money to help educate tire store owners about how to recognize fraudulent trash haulers.

“The grant from DOE is going to help us be even more successful in sending a strong message that illegal tire dumping won’t be tolerated in Yakima,” said Public Works Director Chris Waarvick.  “We’re grateful that DOE recognized our past efforts to hold those who illegally dump tires accountable.  The grant money will allow us to ramp up those efforts even more,” said Waarvick.