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Kosciusko County Solid Waste Management District heard the results of the September tire week at KC Recycling on Tuesday.
Tom Ganser, executive director of KC Recycling, reported this month’s tire week – which took place Sept. 12-18 – went well.
“We took just about as many people but more tires,” said Tom Ganser, executive director of KC Recycling.
Janelle Meyer, education and outreach coordinator for KC Recycling, reported 124 people brought 764 tires during tire week, an average of six tires per person.
“If you look at the daily totals, the people became less but the tires became more,” Meyer said. “We started averaging about nine tires a person towards the end of the week.”
Ganser stated the increase in tires through the week resulted from an increase in the daily tire limit per person. On Sept. 14, the limit was six tires per person, but that limit was raised to 10 tires the next day.
“In particular, there were a couple people that were tire hoards, so they were bringing me anywhere from 10, 15 a day,” Ganser said.
The goal of tire week, he said, is to remove those tire hoards. The truck would have been filled on the Thursday of tire week if it had not been for an additional 40-yard roll-off container for tires with rims, donated by Lewis Salvage owner and Chief Executive Officer Cary Lewis.
“Cary Lewis has donated that container since we started this program,” Ganser said. “I’m very thankful for him taking tires with rims, and that really gives us a little bit more capability of the trailer.”
Meyer also said that although numbers may have been impacted because of all the rain, people from Warsaw, as well as Pierceton and Mentone, dropped off tires.
“It was a good week, even though it did rain,” Ganser said.
While he doesn’t think it’s possible to take 8-foot tires, he is open to boosting the size limit from 4-foot to 5- or 6-foot tires.
“We keep learning every time we do it, but we keep filling the truck, so there’s a need still out there,” Ganser said.
“Well, at the end of the day, you got rid of 2,500 tires so far this year from our community,” said city of Warsaw attorney Scott Reust. “That’s pretty good.”
Those are tires that won’t be in county ditches or residential yards, collecting water and becoming breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
Tires also don’t burn well, and Ganser said when tires are burning, they release oil, which contaminates water.
Ganser said after the paving project around KC Recycling is complete, he is interested in staging a permanent tire box – for example, a 50-yard compactor box that can be secured – at the recycling plant.
The next tire week is scheduled for Oct. 19-23.
The board also heard about Ganser following up with Creative Benefits Solutions to create an insurance option for KC Recycling employees. According to a representative, at least 50% employee participation is required, and KC Recycling would have to pay at least half the cost. Ganser talked about supplemental and life insurance, enhancements, and short- and long-term disability as possibilities for employees.
Reust urged Ganser to be careful about offering insurance that pays more than 50% and to keep in mind that many family insurance policies will kick spouses off their policies if insurance is available to them through another company. Currently, all the employees at KC Recycling have insurance through their spouses.
“We didn’t want to penalize anybody or take anything away from anybody, but if there was something we could offer that would be helpful, that was the path we were trying to take,” said Controller Alyssa Schmucker.
Ganser said he would still like to look at enhancements to help the benefits package for employees.
Other Business
• The paving project at KC Recycling, which is being completed by Super Seal, will be in progress Sept. 30 through Oct. 2. On Thursday and Friday, all receiving doors at the plant except for the south side drive will be closed for the project. Ganser said the drive will have to be used for entering and exiting for dropoff.
Because a motorist has already hit the crossing guard pole trying to turn the corner, Ganser discussed having an employee stand outside to direct vehicles.
• Indiana Department of Environmental Management will not be hosting electronic disposal events until 2027, and the first one will be in Whitley County.
Ganser will speak with a representative from IDEM more about a northern Indiana electronics event in 2027.
