A frustrated New Orleans resident went on Fox 8 news to draw attention to illegal dumping clogging a local road. The discarded refuse is extreme — an old mobile home, complete with belongings, was dumped in their yard.
The report detailed the story of Old Gentilly Road, which has been plagued by discarded tires for years. In 2022, "a Fox 8 drone captured a staggering amount of tires on the I-510 service road, that prompted the state department of transportation to clear the tires." Even with so many issues, a resident told Fox: "The situation is getting worse."
With such a volume of waste, the local roads are sometimes impassable. When asked for comment on cleanup, the city said there was a backlog. Stephen Plessy, who has been advocating for cleaning up the neighborhood, doesn't have much hope for a long-term solution. Plessy told Fox 8: "The city going to come back here. They going to clean it up again, but why keep on doing the same thing. Put some cameras back here or something."
The local police did not respond to plans to monitor the illegal dumping with cameras.
Even with all the frustrations, Plessy is going to keep fighting: "I love New Orleans, and I've been here a long time, and I'm trying to make it better."
Illegal dumping like this can cause harm far beyond the personal. The Environmental Protection Agency wrote that tires can become breeding grounds for mosquitoes and rodents when allowed to languish in illegal dumps.
Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation discussed the many issues with tire dumping. They wrote that tires "can leach toxic chemicals that contaminate soil and water, causing serious harm to humans, wildlife, and the environment."
Additionally, tires are highly flammable, and tire fires can be hard to extinguish. When tires burn, they become oils; the EPA said: "The average passenger car tire is estimated to produce over 2 gallons of oil when burned."
The comment section for this story on YouTube was rightly heated.
🗣️ Do you worry about air pollution in your town?
🔘 All the time 💯
🔘 Often 😢
🔘 Only sometimes 😟
🔘 Never 😎
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
One commenter told about their experience bearing the brunt of this illegal dumping: "I was a double victim. People dumping stuff illegally and then the city code enforcement fining me and making me constantly clean it up at my expense."
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