What the F?!
A MOUNTAIN IN South Carolina made from roughly 250,000 tires covers more than 50 acres on satellite images and can be seen from space. Authorities have no idea how the tires ended up there, but this isn’t the first time the man-made mountain has sprung up, said David Summers, Calhoun County council chairman.
“This tire pile here is a baby compared to what that one was,” said Summers to The Associated Press, recalling another giant tire pile from the 1990s.
Litter control officer Boyce Till said he contacted the local sheriff and state health department, who are investigating who is dumping the tires. The maximum fine the perpetrators could pay is a $475 ticket for littering.
Tricia Johnson, owner of Lee Tire Company, Inc., said the owner of the property called and asked her to help remove the tires. Johnson said between 10 and 15 tractor-trailer loads of tires have been moved to the tire-recycling facility so far.
There they will either have oil and steel extracted from them or they will be shredded and made into tire-derived fuel, which Johnson said burns more cleanly than coal and is used by paper mills. Johnson said it could take until early 2012 to process the 250,000 tires.
“He is trying to clean it up,” said Johnson about the landowner, who asked to remain anonymous. “He just got stuck. He tried all the resources to move the tires as quickly as he could.”
—Jane Lytvynenko
