Photo courtesy Michael Meister
More than 10,000 waste tires were collected by volunteers and officials in T.O Fuller State Park last week, and those tires will soon be shredded and used for park trails.
Nearly 500 volunteers, joined by officials from the city, county, and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), as well as leaders from various partner organizations, including Clean Memphis, and Friends of T.O. Fuller State Park, gathered at the park last week for the cleanup.
Led by Tennessee State Parks Conservancy, the Martin Luther King Jr. Day event aimed to collect waste tires that will be recycled to form a new, nearly three-mile pedestrian and bike trail at the park.
“Our overall goal is to convert a chronic waste issue of discarded tires into a valuable outdoor recreational resource for everyone to enjoy,” said Brock Hill, TDEC Deputy Commissioner.
The effort, a part of Tennessee State Park’s Tires to Trails Program, was the first in a series of three similar events planned for the park.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris were two of the officials present Monday.
“There is no better way to honor Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy than with a day of service,” said Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris. “It was great to see hundreds of people volunteering together to not only clean up the community, but to kick off the Tires to Trails Program to improve T.O. Fuller State Park.”
The project is funded by a $200,000 liter pickup grant from the Tennessee Department of Transportation and two additional grants from TDEC to be used for construction.
The ultimate goal is to collect close to 36,000 tires from predetermined locations in the Memphis area that will then be recycled into a pavement-like surface for the trail. The recycling process will be done by Patriot Recycling in Bristol, Tennessee.
Monitor TDEC’s Facebook page for information about the two upcoming cleanups.
