‘I was hopeless’: Oregon man’s new farm property is buried under illegally dumped tires and the city won’t help. Now, he’s on the hook to clean it up

“The reason I wanted to buy this property, I think it’s in a beautiful location,” Tran told KATU. “I didn’t know the disaster that was going to come with it.”

When Tran returned in early June to begin work, he said most of the property wasn’t even accessible because of walls of tires stacked across the property, some piled more than six feet high. Tran also discovered at least one unauthorized person living on the property and the scale of the dumping shocked even longtime neighbors.

When KATU asked Tran how he planned to remove the tires, he said, “What can I do?”

Costly cleanup

According to Tran, when he originally agreed to purchase the property, there was a single pile of about 40 tires there.

The massive tire pile that has since grown has triggered investigations by the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality, Metro and local health officials.

“The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office treats public safety and environmental hazards with the utmost seriousness,” an MCSO spokesperson shared in a statement reported by KATU. “The accumulation of waste tires presents a fire hazard and could violate Oregon’s waste tire regulations.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) describes illegal dumping, often called “open dumping” or “fly dumping,” as the disposal of waste in unauthorized locations, with tires among the materials most commonly found at illegal dump sites.

Waste tire stockpiles are widely considered environmental hazards because they can fuel difficult-to-extinguish fires, environmental contamination and public health concerns.

Metro, the regional government serving the greater Portland area, says the problem has been escalating across the region.

“Illegally dumped tires are a growing issue,” a Metro spokesperson told KATU. “Over the past year, (Metro) RID Patrol crews have picked up more than 14,000 tires from public property in greater Portland — 5,600 of those in May alone.”

Tran suspects someone may have been collecting used tires from businesses while posing as a recycling service and then dumping them on the property.

His neighbor, Heather Harmon shares that theory and worries about the potential consequences.

“I don’t know if they’re doing it overnight, or while I’m at work. I never see anybody over there,” Harmon told KATU. “I’m worried about something catching on fire and spreading across into my yard and my property.”

Metro’s trash removal company, RID Patrol removes illegally dumped materials from public land but it can’t clean up waste on private property. Multnomah County officials told KATU that the county currently lacks the resources to clear a dump site of this size.

Though officials said they do not want to add to Tran’s financial burden, it’s often the property owner who would ultimately be responsible for dealing with waste on their land if the dumpers can’t be identified, depending on your state laws. But when it comes to reporting dumped garbage on your property, evidence can be required.

Faced with the cleanup costs, Tran has launched an online fundraiser to help pay for the tire removal.

What to do if someone illegally dumps waste on your property

Tran isn’t the only one facing an illegal dumping problem. Across the U.S., Americans illegally dump roughly 1.5 million tons every year according to the Let’s Do It World Foundation.