Don’t De-spare – Properly Dispose of Tires this OCS!

Operation Clean Stream is just around the corner! The 51st Operation Clean Stream will take place this year on Saturday August 25th and Sunday August 26th all around the Meramec River Watershed.  Each year, Clean Streamers pull out thousands of tires from the Meramec River. Ensuring that these tires make it to a proper disposal location is critical to the success of Operation Clean Stream.

If you’re planning to organize a cleanup on the Meramec River during the Operation Clean Stream weekend, please be sure to contact the Open Space Council at info@openspacestl.org or at 314-835-9225 to find out the nearest drop-off location for the tires your group collects. Remember that tires should be as free of mud, water and gravel as possible so they will be accepted by the waste hauler.

Groups must coordinate with the Open Space Council by August 1st, 2018 in order to ensure that a drop-off location for your tires is secured. Unfortunately, the Open Space Council cannot accommodate disposal coordination for tires collected from other cleanup events throughout the year.

Clean Streamers who collect tires at cleanup events during other times of the year can utilize the Dobbs Tire & Auto Center collection program. According to the Stream Teams United website, “Dobbs has 37 locations in the St. Louis Region and one in Cape Girardeau, making it a super-convenient drop-off location for all our St. Louis-area teams. Teams just have to show their Stream Team ID Cards as proof of Stream Team membership. Dobbs will accept up to 40 tires per event at no cost. If your event nets more than 40 tires, no problem. Dobbs Tire & Auto Centers has an agreement with Tire Shredders in High Ridge, MO. Tire Shredders will accept the tires and invoice Dobbs for the cost of disposal.” 

Tires account for a huge portion of trash collected during Operation Clean Stream. In the last 17 years, Operation Clean Stream volunteers have pulled 32,509 tires from the Meramec River Watershed. Thanks to all Clean Streamers who do their part to remove tires from our waterways and keep the Meramec beautiful for our community and wildlife. 

Visit www.openspacestl.org/OCS to learn more about Operation Clean Stream and sign up to volunteer for this year.