Tires dumped in north St. Louis lots reignite calls for crackdown on illegal dumping
ST. LOUIS — Troves of hundreds of illegally dumped tires are turning up in north St. Louis — prompting at least some city officials to call for new action to combat a problem that has plagued neighborhoods around the region for years.
Alderwoman Laura Keys said she has recently become aware of two large deposits of old tires in the city's 11th Ward, which covers a large portion of north St. Louis.
One of the dumping grounds is in a back alley near Turner Avenue that provides "good cover," for improper waste disposal, Keys said. The other is off Grand Boulevard, near its intersection with Cozens Avenue.
Keys said she discovered the tires there when she stopped by a neighboring mosque to attend a community event over the weekend.
"I looked to my right and I could've fallen out of my chair with the shock," she said. "It really is overwhelming to see this level of dumping that is happening in our city."
The new finds are the latest examples of long-running problems tied to illegal dumping in the region, with tires being a particularly common and troublesome type of waste — one that has led Keys and other leaders to arrange past "Tire Amnesty Days," inviting people to bring in old, unwanted tires.
St. Louis is aiming to address the issue and has used federal funding to install cameras in hot spots for dumping, Keys and other officials said.
Keys said she appreciates the dialogue from the office of Mayor Tishaura O. Jones on the issue, thus far. But Conner Kerrigan, a spokesman for the mayor's office, said Wednesday that cleaning up illegally dumped tires is often not the city's responsibility — falling, instead, to the affected property owners, who are also victims.
"The tire dumping in question seems to be happening on private property," said Kerrigan. "Therefore, the city can't take action there."
Still, city anti-dumping efforts have lead to recent enforcement increases compared to the last several years, said Nancy Cross, the director of operations for the mayor's office.
So far this year, the city has issued nearly 450 charges for illegal dumping and assessed more than $97,000 in fines, the mayor's office said. And just over 200 of those cases are hailed as a direct result of the "trash cameras" in city alleys. Another 124 cases have come forward thanks to witness reports, as residents can anonymously relay relevant information to the authorities.
"We are doing more to try to deter people," said Cross. "Our goal is to try to break that habit."
But Keys says "it's hard to keep pace" with the people doing the dumping, and that "a lot of these guys have gotten very slick" — even taking precautions such as removing their license plates.
Given the sheer volume of tires being dumped, Keys said she suspects that the offenders must be involved in the tire business, despite a statewide system of legal requirements, permits and monetary incentives designed to ensure that tires get properly discarded or recycled.
For example, after old tires come off at a tire shop, they are generally taken by state-permitted scrap tire haulers to state-permitted processing facilities. And at the point of purchase, a 50-cent fee is charged for every new tire in the state. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources uses the fees to help fund tire inspection and enforcement activities, and grants aimed at developing markets for scrap tires.
Teresa Thevary, an environmental supervisor in MDNR's scrap tire unit, said it's plausible that some unpermitted haulers could charge far less for tire disposal than officially permitted competitors, and then dump their loads illegally, in order to avoid fees from a processing facility. The state recorded 103 reports of scrap tire dumping last year, and has received 78 reports so far this year, she said.
St. Louis has faced problems from illegal dumping for years , and even decades, with piles of discarded trash stretching far beyond tires.
Keys says instances of illegal dumping have been especially "heartbreaking" when they come on the heels of local cleanup efforts — sometimes negating the work of neighborhood residents after less than a day.
"You're constantly fighting against everything to keep your place nice and clean," she said.
But dumped tires, specifically, represent more than just eyesores. They can also pose risks.
The piled tires serve as ideal habitat for a variety of pests, such as rats. And with their contours forming pools where rain can collect and stagnate, tire wells also make perfect places for mosquitoes to lay eggs, elevating the risks of mosquito-borne illness, like West Nile virus.
Dumped tires also create risks of fires that can be notoriously difficult to fight, with the potential to last for months.
Keys said she and other city leaders are weighing options to target tire dumping through legislation.
"The first step is we can't let this situation continue," said Keys, emphasizing the need to remove the abandoned tires. Strengthening laws could help, so "it doesn't look so attractive to tire businesses to dump tires like this," she said.
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