In an effort to help keep Barton County clean, the County Commission Tuesday morning approved offering $15,000 in financial assistance for the City of Great Bend for the citywide cleanup which took place in September and helped dispose of approximately 160 tons of tires.

“For the second consecutive year, the City of Great Bend held a city-wide cleanup,” County Administrator Matt Patzner said. During the event, which was held from Sept. 8–17, the City disposed of about 36 roll-off container loads of tires, which is about double from 2022. 

The cost for the city to dispose of these went up from $150 per ton to $248 per ton. Last year’s tire disposal cost was $17,000 and this year it was $40,000, Patzner said.

“As we discussed in the joint city-county meeting back in June, and then again study session last week, it suggested the county provide the city with a $15,000 allocation to offset the increased costs,” he said. Money was available in the county’s solid waste fund.  

“It make sense to me. It’s what we’ve got to do to keep the tires out of ditches,” said commission Chairman Shawn Hutchinson, District 3. 

“You’ve got to clean things up and this is about the only way,” said District 1 Commissioner Duane Reif. “Tires are really just nasty things.”

In all during the city’s effort, there were about 76 total container loads total collected at the Sunflower Diversified Services location on West 10th Street, and these involved 30-cubic-yard and 40-cubic-yard containers. About eight tons of scrap metal were gathered.