Waste Tire Program
In the past, discarded tires were considered to be more of a nuisance than something to harbor mosquito problems. Waste tires are capable of producing several freshwater mosquito species, especially the mosquito species Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, which have the potential to transmit diseases, such as dengue, chikungunya, and Zika. It is reported that the first population of Aedes albopictus was likely to have been transported in 1985 to Texas from Japan with used tires. A year later, the species was reported in Jacksonville. By 1994, Ae. albopictus was reported to be in every Florida county.
The District began tire collection efforts in 1992 when the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services provided waste tire funds to mosquito control programs. Although the funding has been eliminated, the District continued the program. Over the last 30 years, over 1127 tons of tires have been collected and properly disposed of. The removal of waste tires is a method of source reduction, which is performed to assist in reducing populations of these two species and the threat of a disease outbreak.