ASHTABULA TOWNSHIP —
Thousands of scrap tires will be rolling away Monday from Accurate Iron and Metal, 2007 State Road.
The township trustees Wednesday night awarded the bid of not more than $80,000 to Liberty Tire Recycling of Minerva for the removal of 45,000 scrap tires at the site, said Joe Pete, vice president of the trustees.
“They will begin work Monday,” he said. “We are hoping they can clean it all up.”
The property owner, Patricia Colucci, recently gave the township permission to go on the property and have workers dispose of the tires.
The tires are an eyesore and a potential threat to human health, public safety and the environment, said Mike Settles, spokesman for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. When left to rot, scrap tires may harbor rats and become a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Last year, an Ohio EPA staff member helped Ashtabula Township trustees apply for a grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to remove tires from Accurate Iron and Metal.
Last May, the ODNR gave Ashtabula Township an $80,000 grant to clean up the tires, beginning July 1, 2011, and ending June 30, 2012.
For years, Colucci’s husband, John E. Colucci, salvaged scrap metal from vehicles. He had garnered about 93,000 tires in the scrap yard in 2004, according to the application. That same year, the Ohio EPA ordered him to start removing the tires.
The job was about halfway done when John E. Colucci died in September 2007.
After his death, EPA officials had difficulty contacting his widow until about two months ago, when she began working with the township trustees.
The cleanup is expected to be completed by May 25, Pete said.
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