Santa Cruz County announced on Mar. 31 a free tire collection program that allows residents to recycle up to five passenger or light-truck tires per household each year at no cost.
The initiative aims to help keep the community clean and prevent illegal dumping by providing a convenient way for households to dispose of old tires. The county said that tires with rims will incur a $5 fee per tire, and large truck or semi-truck tires are not accepted in the program. All loads must be weighed at the truck scale before disposal at the Rio Rico Landfill.
Properly recycling tires is part of ongoing efforts to address environmental concerns in Santa Cruz County. While programs like this target community cleanliness, local educational outcomes remain an area of concern. In Santa Cruz County, 74.4% of students in grades 3 through 8 failed the mathematics section of the 2022-23 school year AASA, according to the Arizona Department of Education. Similarly, 84% of high schoolers did not pass the mathematics section of the ACT during that same academic year according to state data.
English proficiency scores also reflected challenges: 66.4% of students in grades 3 through 8 failed the English section of the AASA in Santa Cruz County during the 2022-23 school year according to official reports, while among high schoolers, failure rates reached as high as 72% on their ACT English exams according to state records.
However, recent data shows some progress: Santa Cruz County saw 18% of its high schoolers successfully pass the mathematics section of the ACT for the 2023-24 academic year as reported by education authorities. Additionally, about one-quarter—23.6%—of third through eighth grade students passed their mathematics assessment on this year’s AASA test according to education officials.
Efforts such as tire recycling reflect broader initiatives aimed at improving both environmental and educational outcomes across Santa Cruz County.
