In 2021 Lapeer County Farm Bureau was searching for benefits we could offer our members. With COVID precautions in mind and an eye on planting and harvest seasons, we settled on sponsoring an ag-tire recycling event.
We started planning knowing there was a need but unsure about availability. Many local municipalities sponsor tire-recycling events that rarely accept ag and heavy-duty truck tires.
A couple bumps kept coming up as we planned. Similar events coordinated by other county Farm Bureaus had required more volunteer hours than we thought we could provide during planting and harvest — and they were held on specified dates.
We contacted a local recycling business, Midway Disposal, to see if they would collaborate with us toward providing an ag tire-recycling benefit to our members — something flexible that wouldn’t require a lot of volunteer hours during a busy time of year.
And that is how our Member Ag Tire Recycling Voucher Program was born. Each member was eligible to receive a voucher worth up to $150 per member, redeemable during Midway Disposal’s normal business hours.
If members had more tires than that would cover, they could get on a waiting list for any unrequested vouchers during the event’s last two weeks
All members had to do was call the Lapeer County Farm Bureau office with the type and number of tires they wanted to recycle. Members paid one-third of the cost, then Midway Disposal billed the county Farm Bureau for the remaining two-thirds.
Collaborating with a local business meant our members could recycle tires at their convenience, meaning they could optimize their on-farm time during a busy season or take advantage of a rainy day that kept them out of the fields.
The event was planned for early spring 2021, encouraging our producers to recycle their old tires as they prepped for planting. The spring timing was so well received our members asked if we planned a repeat, so our board followed up with a late-fall event in hopes of capturing tires that had accumulated over the busy warm-weather months.
As harvest dragged deep into the fall of 2021, we extended the deadline for redeeming vouchers so our members had more flexibility.
The spring and fall events were almost equal in the number of tires recycled, with 322 light-duty tires, 75 heavy-duty tires and 325 inches of ag-tire tread being recycled.
For us that was a win from every angle, so Lapeer County Farm Bureau looks forward to future repeats as long as the need is present.