SCOTT COUNTY TACKLES TIRE EYESORE

BENTON -- A huge pile of discarded tires near Benton has raised concern among Scott County officials.

County commissioners have contacted the Department of Natural Resources office in Poplar Bluff to see what can be done about what they call an eyesore and potential health hazard.

John Stephenson, owner of SEMO Waste Management on Highway 77 two miles east of Interstate 55, said he's trying to get rid of the waste tires by developing some markets and uses.

He has a tire shredder that can cut up about 8,000 to 10,000 tires in an eight-hour day. The tires have to be cut into 4-inch pieces for best results.

Stephenson has about 100,000 whole waste tires stacked on the site. In addition, about 30,000 shredded tires are lying in a pile. He has been accumulating the tires the past two years.

Landfills will take the tires if they have been quartered, but that is expensive and the rubber doesn't decompose, Stephenson said. He thinks it would be better to use the tires as fuel or in the production of other products using recycled materials.

Pat Dwyer, DNR environmental specialist dealing with waste tires at Poplar Bluff, said Stephenson has just one site of about a dozen that his office is monitoring in 24 Southeast Missouri counties.

He said Stephenson's operation falls under the category of an illegal waste tire site because he is storing more than 500 tires for more than 30 days.

Dwyer said Stephenson received his first notice of violation from the DNR last October after an inspection showed the site had about 50,000 tires. The letter said Stephenson was in violation of Missouri's Solid Waste Management Law.

A second notice was sent in February. Dwyer, has visited the site three times since fall.

Stephenson was prompted to action because his waste tire hauler's permit was to expire last month. Stephenson met with Dwyer and other DNR officials in Poplar Bluff early this month.

DNR made some agreements with Stephenson on cleaning up the site, Dwyer said. Those agreements are being reviewed by the attorney general's office that handles DNR complaints.

"We're trying to work with him to get him into compliance without coming down on him too strongly," Dwyer said of his dealings with Stephenson.

Dwyer said the DNR has found that works better than trying to enforce some severe penalties when the waste tire site operator might just throw his hands up and walk away.

Dwyer said Stephenson has indicated he wants to shred the tires and then move the material to some different end users, such as electric generators, cement manufacturers or others using recycled rubber.

Dwyer said the DNR and the attorney general's office become more serious in enforcing the law when a violator is no longer acting in good faith to clean up the pile.

Other reasons to seek more drastic action against an operator are people complaining, legislators asking questions if something is being done and health officials seeking information about the site to see if it's a hazard, Dwyer said.