MES cleans up illegal tire dumps, creating safer, beautiful spaces and reducing negative impacts on the environment.
Through the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), Maryland Environmental Service uses proceeds from the Maryland Scrap Tire Fund to clean up illegal tire dumps and create demonstration projects using recycled rubber. Since MDE’s Scrap Tire Program began in 1994, MES has worked to clean up 27 sites, removing a total of 3,415,300 tires.
This site is thought to be the largest remaining illegal tire dump in Maryland, contained more than a million tires covering over 15 acres of ravines not far from a stream. The first phase of the cleanup began in 2010; in 2012, after the removal of 1,132,000 tires, the Garner site was restored to pre-dump natural conditions, including restoration of non-tidal wetlands and native trees. Click here to watch a video about the Garner/Brandywine project.
