From left, workers for the County Clean-Up Event Casey Simmons, Shannon Simms II and Josh Hammack unload a truckful of tires Saturday morning at the Erickson All-Sports Facility in Parkersburg. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

PARKERSBURG — Wood County residents dropped off more than 1,000 tires in the first two hours of a community collection event hosted Saturday by the Wood County Solid Waste Authority at the Erickson All-Sports Facility.

The event was held to give residents a free way to dispose of items that are typically expensive or difficult to throw away, said Sarah Robinson, director of the authority.

“So, today we’re doing a community collection event for hard-to-get-rid-of bulky items for free for Wood County residents,” Robinson said.

The collection accepted up to 10 tires off the rim from residents with a West Virginia ID. Robinson said the tire collection was sponsored through the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s Rehabilitation Environmental Action Plan (R.E.A.P.) program.

The event also accepted appliances without freon, scrap metal and all forms of paint.

Robinson said the event provides an environmentally responsible option for residents while helping reduce illegal dumping.

“It’s an environmentally friendly way to get rid of some hard-to-get-rid-of items,” Robinson said. “Tires, you know, we’re seeing a lot of open dumps, so this helps prevent and keep that down low.”

She said scrap metal disposal also can be costly for residents, and the event offered a way for people to clean up their yards and properties without paying disposal fees.

The event drew heavy traffic early Saturday. Robinson said the first two hours were “bumper to bumper,” with about 100 vehicles already having gone through.

“We have already, within two hours, collected well over 1,000 tires,” she said.

Robinson said the collected tires would be taken through the R.E.A.P. program to a processing center in Weston. Paint collected at the event would be handled by Waste Management, where it is solidified before disposal. Scrap metal was being transported and disposed of by R&J Recycling, she said.

Robinson said the event was intended to make disposal easier for residents while keeping unwanted materials out of open dumps and off private properties.

Gwen Sour can be reached at gsour@newsandsentinel.com.