Kentucky is wrestling with a problem that is common everywhere: What do you do with scrap tires?

The state had formed an answer several years ago, with funding help to promote recycling efforts at the local level. And it had a positive effect. Kentucky’s Legislative Research Commission reported recently that since 1998, Kentucky’s waste tire program properly disposed of nearly 17 million tires.

But that was before the recession hit. With the dwindling state revenues brought on by the recession, money to promote recycling dried up in 2008.

So while recycling has declined, Kentucky is left with an estimated 4 million scrap tires generated every year. The upshot is that more tires are ending up in landfills, and improper disposal of scrap tires means a public health and environmental problem, according to the Legislative Research Commission. “Waste tires do not decompose, so placing whole tires in landfills is an ineffective solution,” the LRC said in a report quoted by the Owensboro (Ky.) Messenger-Inquirer.

The decline in Kentucky’s program – and others like it across the country – is unfortunate because there are uses for the old tires, such as garden mulch, cushioning for playgrounds and alternative fuel.

The state is trying to fight back, but not at the level of a few years ago. It announced in December that counties could apply for up to $3,000 each for grants to help pay for waste tire removal and recycling.

That’s not much, but perhaps it signals that Kentucky once again is building the resolve to tackle this persistent environmental concern.