Ritchie: Oswego Residents Fight the Bite, Dispose of Nearly 4,000 Waste Tires

Brings Two Event Total to Nearly 10,000

State Senator Patty Ritchie has announced Central New Yorkers helped to “fight the bite,” disposing of nearly 4,000 waste tires at free events that took place at several locations throughout Oswego County this past weekend. 

The recent event was the second of two made possible through $275,000 in the new State Budget that Senator Ritchie helped secure.  As a result of the two events—which were hosted in conjunction with Oswego County—nearly 10,000 waste tires were disposed of, with the $5 fee for each tire being waived. 

“It’s estimated that one waste tire can act as breeding ground for approximately one million mosquitoes. As a result of these two free tire disposal events, we have done away with potentially hundreds of millions of mosquitoes that could have been carrying deadly viruses like EEE,” said Senator Ritchie.

“We know that in Central New York, we have to be especially vigilant in our fight against EEE.  I’d like to thank Oswego County for partnering with me on this effort and also the many individuals who took this important step to get rid of waste tires and protect themselves from mosquitoes and the diseases they carry.”

Last year, more than 2,000 tires were disposed of at similar events hosted by Senator Ritchie.  In addition to tire disposal events, Senator Ritchie has been spearheading a number of initiatives to help Oswego County in its battle against EEE.  Recently, funding secured by Senator Ritchie has been used to produce an educational video, pay for increased EEE surveillance and spraying to eliminate infected mosquitoes as well as a special program to help vaccinate horses, which are particularly susceptible to the disease.