If there is one thing that could be said about the county’s recent effort to remove scrap tires littering its streets and properties, it is that it is not spinning its wheels in place.

For the third straight year, Cass County’s participation in a six-county wide initiative to recycle old and unused passenger car tires has been a success. Residents turned in 2,739 tires during the weeklong collection drive, which took place late last month.

“It’s been a success every year we’ve done it,” said Robert Ziliak, a member of the Cass County Board of Commissioners and the person spearheading the project in the county. “You don’t hardly see these tires on the side of the roads any more.”

Ziliak is the vice-chair of Southwest Michigan Solid Waste Consortium, the organization responsible for securing grants from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality that fund the collection drive. The board elected to start applying for the grants in 2012 in order to help eliminate the clutter that scrap tires were causing in landfills and other property in the region.

“Several counties had been receiving cleanup grants on their own, but several others, including Cass, never had anything like this,” Ziliak said. “We collect tires at our annual household hazardous waste collection in May, but people have to pay to have them recycled then. In this case, there’s no cost to the individual, they just bring them in and we take care of the rest.”

Cass received $3,000 for the project this year, which was given to DeerPath Recyclers in Dowagiac to cover the costs of storing, processing and shipping the collected tires. The plant converts the old car parts into rubber mulch that can be used for athletic surfacing, landscaping, other industrial purposes and more.

“Every part of the tire is turned into something else,” Ziliak said. “Nothing goes to waste; it’s a win-win for everybody.”

Around 105 residents turned in old car or pickup truck tires this year during the week, picking from old stock they had stored in their garages, barns or yards or from ones they picked up laying on the roadside. The week of collections culminated with drive held at the fairgrounds on Aug. 23, where they collected 673 parts alone.

With another successful year on the books, Ziliak said that the Consortium will likely apply for the same funds next year to continue their efforts to turn the litter into something useful.

“I think it’s been a huge success, and you can tell because you don’t see tires on the side of the road like you used to,” Ziliak said.