BATON ROUGE— BREC was one of the 20 organizations within 17 parishes to receive grant funding from the Lieutenant Governor’s office and Keep Louisiana Beautiful.

Over $100,000 in reimbursement grants were awarded to the organizations, ranging from $2,500 to $10,000.

BREC's Assistant Director of Natural Resources Management, Sharon Kin,g said over the course of last year, over 1,000 tires were illegally dumped, and they need financial help to continue to pick up the tires.

King said the agency was awarded $10,000 through the Keep Louisiana Beautiful Healthy Communities Grant.

She said funds will go toward getting rid of tires and creating a barrier to prevent tire dumping.

“You have to pay a DEQ authorized company to take the tires away and for each tire, there’s a charge. So just in tires alone, that’s over $3,000,” King said. 

Keep Louisiana Beautiful’s Executive Director Susan Russell said every year the agency helps local communities in removing and preventing litter.

“We did a study just about two years ago that documented that the state of Louisiana spends about $91 million fighting the litter problem and unfortunately, we still have one,” said Russell. 

King said removing the tires not only protects the environment but also makes neighborhoods look more welcoming.

“All these bayous lead to the ocean. So, a lot of our clean-up efforts are in the bayous and it’s healthier for the community and it looks better and helps reduce blight,” King said.

King said clean-up efforts will begin in January. The agency has reserved Jan. 24 as a day for volunteers to help clean up.