Photo credit:Matthew Hoelscher
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Let’s make an artificial reef from old tires and let corals establish themselves, creating a new marine habitat. At the same time, we’ll free up space in our landfills.
Ray McAllister, a professor at Florida Atlantic University, organized the project, with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approval. Goodyear donated tires and equipment to bind them. Volunteers sent money and used their boats and barges to haul the tires. And everyone felt they had done a good deed, benefiting the sea and the land.
Unfortunately it did not work out that way.
Thirty-five years later, the man-made “reef” off Fort Lauderdale is a total flop. The steel clips used on the straps holding the bundles of tires together have melted away, and loose tires are scouring the sea bottom of any life. Tires are washing up on beaches and blocking the growth of a real coral reef further down the shore.
William Nuckols, coordinator for Coastal America, which is involved in organizing a cleanup effort, told the Associated Press, “They’re a constantly killing, coral-destruction machine.”
Photo credit:Matthew Hoelscher
Tire-reef projects were popular off American coastal states and around the world. Millions of tires have been dumped into the ocean. But whether because the tires are too light and move too much to allow sea life to colonize, or because the tires are secreting some toxic substance, they do not work as a reef base.
The tires are often washed ashore, especially after storms. While some tires wash ashore, others have broken loose from the tire-reef and are doing damage to the sea bed.
Dr. Robin Sherman at Nove SE Oceanographic University obtained a grant to find a way to recover and dispose of the tires.
Photo credit:Matthew Hoelscher
In Florida, the cleanup is expected to take three years and cost about $3.4 million. Many of the tires are buried in the sand and must be dug out, lest further wave action free them to continue the destruction.
[...] Tire Reef: “It seemed like a good idea at the time” [...]
[...] Today I found a site called Sprol, the headline of which is ‘worst places in the world.’ It shows “the visual macroscopic effects of the decisions and behavior of our society.” I found particularly interesting a recent entry about the failure of man-made tire reef projects which have failed miserably and are costing millions to clean up. [...]
I find this fascinating. The best of intentions with horrible consequences. It’ll be a spendy lesson, but at least it appears they can clean the bulk of it up if they bother. Good for Florida for making the effort.
Aloha,
Steve
fucking morons, only in russia do people cover up, but only in america do people make stupid ideas into a reality just to waste more time.
WOW! i never knew that this dumbness exsisted..um doin’ a project an bumped into this… is really sad what is and has happened to our world… um juss real sad now… it seems hopeless!
Dears Friend.
What does the USA EPA says about the tires reefs.
[...] Originally Posted by Harjonos Jangan pakai ban bekas, saya pernah lihat threadnya di Forum ini. Di Amerika sono, pakai ban bekas bermasalah kemudian diambilin lagi & perlu biaya besar. Coba disearch saja, mungkin threadnya masih ada. Tire reef nightmare !!! Tire Reef | Sprol http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/…n2492219.shtml __________________ Freddy. Catch – Pictures – Release [...]
[...] The tires kill just about everything on the ocean floor, and are costing a mint to clean up. See the pics and satellite images at http://www.Sprol.com [...]
Um, this has nothing to do with being American, dont hate us cause were the best.
if tire reefs are such a bad idea, then explain this:
http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/htmls/reef3627.htm