Thousands of Illegally Dumped Tires Pulled From Passaic River

Crews from the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission have removed more than 2,000 tires from the Passaic River in Fair Lawn over the past few weeks.

The tires were all illegally dumped since the PVSC last pulled tires from the river there about 10 years ago. Besides dirtying the river, the tires can also provide mosquitos with perfect breeding conditions and worsen flooding, according to PVSC Executive Director Michael DeFrancisci.

"It's years of illegal dumping," DeFrancisci said. "It's people throwing them over the bank. Some get washed down if we have a large rain event."

The work, which is expected to last a couple more weeks, is being performed behind Memorial Middle School and Memorial Park, between the river walk and the Maple Avenue Bridge. 

Removing the tires can be difficult because they've been buried in mud over the years. Workers from the river restoration crews have to use ropes, winches and other equipment to pull the tires out.

"They have to manhandle these, every single one," DeFrancisci said. "It's a lot of man hours, a lot of elbow grease."

The old tires are being sent to Bridgestone, who have agreed to take them away for free and recycle them.

The PVSC generally undergoes one large cleaning project each year, but they're always out cleaning, according to DeFrancisci. A skimmer boat patrols the Passaic River daily, removing floating trash.

The PVSC, based in Newark, is part of the state government and is tasked with cleaning pollution from the Passaic River. Their wastewater plant is one of the largest in the U.S. and processes more than 300 million gallons of wastewater every day.