County residents will be able to get rid of some excess tires free of charge thanks to funding from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR).

Both Lawrence and Scioto counties have received grant money from the ODNR, division of recycling and litter prevention to conduct tire amnesty days in September.

A one-day collection will be held for each county.

The Lawrence County collection will be Sept. 18 in the Lowe's parking lot in South Point. Hours for the event will be from 9 a.m. until 3p.m.

"It's actually a scrap tire collection event," said Chuck Yaniko, district coordinator.

Yaniko will be running the amnesty days and said that one of the main reasons for the event was to prevent scrap tires from becoming litter.

"We're trying to give the residents a place they can take their scrap tires so they don't end up along the side of the road," he said.

Each county will be permitted to collect 3,000 tires at the event.

The collection is for county residents and individuals only; a driver's license or state ID must be shown in order to prove residence and take part. Businesses, industries, tire dealers and scrap yards are not allowed to participate.

One of the reasons that tires tend to accumulate in the area is because there aren't very many tire recyclers within a close distance.

"There's a very small market for recycling tires in Ohio," said Tom Riley, community outreach specialist.

The closest places for county residents to recycle tires is across the Ohio River, and people who take tires there have to pay to have them recycled, Yaniko said.

All tires collected at the amnesty days will be transported to Cincinnati and recycled free of charge.

"Hopefully, this is a small stab to fixing the problem," Riley said.

The amnesty sites will accept four tires per person or eight per residence or family and will accept tires only on a first come, first serve basis.

Once the goal of 3,000 tires is met, the collection site will close. Residents may call 740-534-7523 on the day of the event to see if tires are still being accepted.

Pre-registration for the amnesty days is also available. Lawrence County residents can pre-register Sept. 13-16 from 8 a.m. to noon.

All registrants must provide their name, address, phone number and the number of tires they will bring. Only passenger car and light truck tires are permitted, and all must be off-rim.