SEATTLE — City of Seattle officials said there is an increase in illegal dumping of used tires throughout the city.
"Everyone in South Seattle kind of recognizes that we're sort of a neglected neighborhood," Emily Alhadeff said.
For the last four years, Alhadeff has been living in the Rainier Valley where she's seen her fair share of crime. She's experienced it firsthand.
"About a month ago, three of my tires were slashed on one of my cars,” Alhadeff said.
Now there's another tire issue popping up in her neighborhood.
"We've had a major episode of tire dumping, just used tires being dumped in our alleys," Alhadeff said.
Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) said there's been an increase in illegal dumping of used tires city-wide.
"They were piled up all in the middle, like over a dozen,” Alhadeff said. “Some of them are punctured. Some of them didn't seem to have any issues."
After numerous reports to the city, Alhadeff said the city finally removed this mess last week. SPU said it can dispose of a small number of tires each day.
The agency has collected and disposed of 2,438 tires in October.
"Definitely an environmental concern,” Alhadeff said. “We don't want these toxic tires being near our yards for one. Two, it's an eyesore. Three, it's a safety problem if this a public right of way, we need emergency vehicles to come through, and they can't that's a massive problem."
SPU said it has identified at least one person who is illegally dumping a significant number of tires. An investigation is ongoing. The utility believes other people are dumping tires in the right-of-way as well.
"Clearly somebody deliberately leaving their garbage in our alleys and hoping they weren't going to get caught," Alhadeff said. "Or really what they're probably avoiding is having to pay for dumping fees. So, then they can have the city take care of it or can have the neighbors take care of it and becomes our problem."
Besides looking horrible in the neighborhood, SPU said there are other problems with dumping tires:
- It pollutes the environment
- It creates a breeding ground for pests
- Can be a hazard to public safety
As far as how much it costs the city to remove and dispose of illegal tire dumping. A spokesperson with SPU sent KING 5 a statement saying in part:
“Prior to the significant increase in the illegal dumping of tires, SPU collected and properly disposed of the tires in the public right-of-way at our transfer stations. Due to the drastic increase of illegally dumped tires since July, our transfer station cannot accommodate the number of tires, so SPU established a new contract with a tire recycling and disposal station in October.”
If you see illegal dumping, you're asked to contact SPU at 206-643-3682 or report it on its "Find It, Fix It” app.