Louisville, Nebraska: Ash Grove Cement plans to burn tyres to fuel its plant has gained support around downtown, despite efforts to stop the project by an environmental group. Main Street shop owners say the venture is a better alternative than trucking thousands of Nebraska scrap tyres to a Kansas landfill. Nebraska landfills don’t accept scrap tyres. Ash Grove needs a variance permit from the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality to burn tires on a 60-day trial basis. Ash Grove, which employs 150 people in Louisville, hopes to burn at least 1 million tyres a year as a substitute fuel source. Ash Grove said it expects to charge a fee to accept scrap tires. The tires will be transported to Ash Grove in semitrailers, plant manager Tom Neary said. "This will help reduce our fuel costs by up to 20 per cent," Neary said. "Right now, we use four or five rail cars of coal a day."