Environment and Natural Resources
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 23, 2001
For more information: Keith Gestring, 773-4216

Governor Janklow's Spruce Up Project Moving County Tire & Battery Cleanups to Western South Dakota

PIERRE -- Governor Bill Janklow’s Spruce Up South Dakota project is moving the county waste tire and vehicle battery cleanups to western South Dakota in 2001.

The waste tire and vehicle battery cleanup efforts to date have netted more than 2.9 million waste tires and more than 6,000 vehicle batteries from 44 East River counties, two West River counties, and four Indian reservations. The 2.9 million waste tires includes more than 1.6 million removed from waste tire stockpiles and 1.3 million removed during countywide collections.

"We have had really good success working with the county commissioners and county Spruce Up coordinators to host these county tire and battery cleanup days," said Janklow. "The county finds the locations for the collections, and then all county residents are encouraged to bring in their old tires and batteries they have laying around in their garages, shops, and yards." 

Some collections in West River counties are already in progress, others have been scheduled, and others are still being scheduled. Below is a list of West River county collections set up so far.

County	Dates	Location(s)	Point of Contact
Butte	May 1 to 30	Belle Fourche Landfill	Allan Schreier 642-4772
Custer	Through May 1	Custer – County Highway Shop Pringle – near Fire Station Buffalo Gap – Buffalo Gap Repair	Mike Carter 673-8128
Dewey	Ongoing	Timber Lake – Restricted Use Site Eagle Butte – Restricted Use Site	Richard Gross 865-3400 or David Nelson 964-6559
Fall River	Ongoing	Hot Springs – Material Recovery Facility	Linda Mines 745-6035
Gregory	May 21 to 26	Burke –Restricted Use Site	Ray Roggow 775-2677
Harding	Ongoing	Buffalo – Restricted Use Site Camp Crook – Restricted Use Site	Bill Vroman 375-3678 or Audrey Cordell 797-4525
Lawrence	April 15 to May 15	Lead – Restricted Use Site Spearfish – Restricted Use Site Whitewood – Weyrich Gravel Service                       northeast of town	Roger Marshall 722-3637
Meade	April 15 to May 15	Faith – Restricted Use Site Sturgis – West Side Dismantlers	Curtis Nupen 787-4009
Perkins	Ongoing	Bison – Restricted Use Site Lemmon – Restricted Use Site	Vince Gunn 244-5622
Pennington	April 15 to May 15 April 15 to May 15 April 15 to June 15 Ongoing April 15 to May 15	Box Elder – west of City Hall Hill City – near city lagoon Rapid City Landfill New Underwood – restricted use site Wall – City rubble site	Call 923-5011 or 923-1403 Call 574-2300 Mary Masten 394-5321 Call 754-6777 Call 279-2563
Tripp	Ongoing	Winner – restricted use site	Kathleen Flakus 842-3727

For more information about collections, visit www.spruceupsd.com, call the local coordinator at the number listed above, or call Ellen Killey, West River Spruce Up coordinator, at (605) 355-3493.

DENR is coordinating the free waste tire and vehicle battery collection efforts. All of the tires are recycled into tire-derived fuel and mixed with coal to produce electricity at the Big Stone Power Plant. Old vehicle batteries can be recycled and are worth something if traded in when purchasing a new battery or when taken to a local recycler. The state accepts old batteries but does not pay for them.

Funding for the tire cleanups is provided through appropriations of the state solid waste and tire fees by the state Legislature. The 2001 Legislature provided $1.5 million at Gov. Janklow’s request to continue the cleanups during the next year. 

The accompanying table shows how many waste tires and vehicle batteries have been collected to date in each county. Reservation totals are included in county totals.

*Rosebud Sioux Tribe only

-30-