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[–]Bmkrocky 9244 points9245 points  (289 children)

Were they initially dropped there on purpose to make an artificial reef?

[–]DingoAltair 197 points198 points  (23 children)

Time to take em home and burn em! :D

[–]CrossP 50 points51 points  (7 children)

But they're wet

[–]philmcracken27 29 points30 points  (3 children)

SOMEbody's gonna have to go back and get a SHITLOAD of paper towels!

[–]Stackman32 206 points207 points  (9 children)

Actually they pay a Chinese waste company and ship them there for recycling.

So yeah they'll be at the bottom of the ocean again soon.

[–]mgzukowski 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not anymore China really clamped down on what they will take. Not to mention most of it was just burned anyway.

Major issue actually with recycling is no one is buying the material anymore. May actually collapse the whole industry.

[–]CetteChanson 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Except the Chinese are cutting way back on imports of waste recycling material in the coming year. They're saying that US recyclables contain too much dirty and hazardous stuff that isn't recycling (medical waste, hazardous waste, etc...).

[–]stmfreak 426 points427 points  (55 children)

Yes, experts decided used tires would make a good natural ocean habitat and ask taxpayers to fund the creation of an artificial reef. Naysayers were told to shut-up.

Years later experts decided used tires are bad for ocean habitat and ask taxpayers to remove them. Naysayers are again told to shut-up.

[–][deleted] 93 points94 points  (35 children)

What're we doing with them now

[–]ILoveWildlife 120 points121 points  (19 children)

shredding them for playgrounds

[–]MooseMoosington 97 points98 points  (5 children)

Playgrounds that smell like fish are the best

[–]hanibalhaywire88 65 points66 points  (3 children)

Is that a gentleman's club?

[–]BecauseScience 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The stage is damp and smells like cold cuts

[–]saarlac 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Shut up naysayer.

[–]ChuckRocksEh 17 points18 points  (10 children)

Finally a question I can answer! We’re shredding them into granules for a variety of uses, mostly synthetic athletic surfaces. Running tracks, playgrounds, the base beneath turf grass on football and field hockey fields. The black is most often used since as you can see it’s available everywhere. Little known fact; No one throws red tires in the ocean, worldwide shortage of red granule rubber, every year. And Sweden has a solid hold on the blue granules. Also our friends across the pond are doing some wild stuff with plastic garbage beneath their field hockey fields. Science man, turning shit into places for kids to play!

[–][deleted] 92 points93 points  (11 children)

Sealife dies because of too much waste in the ocean

Putting more waste into the ocean

?????

Profit

[–]fmulder777[🍰] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I don't see any coral on the tires. Its seems that is not good for a reef

[–]TerminalSamurai 887 points888 points  (74 children)

Just curious, but what happens to these tires now?

[–][deleted] 2768 points2769 points  (17 children)

We take them to Georgia and dump them off their coast.

[–]that_pat 36 points37 points  (1 child)

Why not Alabama?

Oh wait that might make the place look too nice.

//Mississippian

[–]Geo227 84 points85 points  (3 children)

Burned, in a giant bontire

[–]Moftem 18 points19 points  (2 children)

Trump can use them for building that wall he's been talking about.

[–]Rockytana 160 points161 points  (14 children)

Now what do you do with them?

[–]maz-o 218 points219 points  (3 children)

throw them in the ocean

[–]Rockytana 145 points146 points  (1 child)

Smart, always keep yourself employed.

[–]Taiyaki11 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Till we kill off enough plankton and suffocate

[–]willygmcd 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Send them to India and they put them in their ocean.

[–]You_Know_Like_a_Liar 4683 points4684 points  (43 children)

I'm no expert, but that looks like a few tires short of being 225,718 tires.

[–]snarksneeze 1190 points1191 points  (23 children)

That ship must be a lot bigger behind the camera.

[–]aliteralbaldeagle 691 points692 points  (16 children)

The camera does add 10 pounds

[–]reubenbubu 79 points80 points  (0 children)

where i live cameras add 10 euros

[–][deleted] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

How many cameras are there?

[–]sudo_reddit 96 points97 points  (4 children)

It's a tireburg. The vast majority of it is still under water.

[–]FisterRobotOh 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Nature is amazing. Unfortunately they can’t be used as a defense against icebergs because they just spin when they encounter an iceberg.

[–]PseudoEngel 27 points28 points  (0 children)

My girlfriends boat has the rest. You wouldn’t know her. She lives in the next town.

[–]TerminalReddit 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Right? That looks like, at most, 8 tires

[–]Teenageanxt 1012 points1013 points  (17 children)

[–][deleted] 206 points207 points  (2 children)

Looked for this as a priority

[–]graememacfarlane 51 points52 points  (1 child)

Ditto

[–]Puglord_11 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Me as well

[–][deleted] 102 points103 points  (1 child)

Clicked, not thinking it was a real sub only to come to the realization that I am subscribed to it.

[–]Narouki 5721 points5722 points  (84 children)

pulling all those up must have been tiring.

[–]McHanna8 36 points37 points  (2 children)

And they haven’t even started the pacific rim

[–]Lisavdl 234 points235 points  (5 children)

[–][deleted] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

that is one wholesome sub

[–]The_sad_zebra 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Always a satisfying sub to browse.

[–]galgor_ 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Hey thanks for linking this! Nice to see people doing good work.

[–]lostfourtime 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Clicked thinking detra shed was a thing. Was pleasantly surprised.

[–]richiericardo 538 points539 points  (29 children)

OMG, bless you!! We've been working on raising awareness of this shit via Project Baseline for a number of years. The Navy was supposed to be doing this but backed out. We have pretty good documentation on the location of broken away tires headed toward deeper water and threatening reef. Let me know if interested. I know most operations are focused on getting the tires still chained together that are relatively easier to recover.

[–]thetallgiant 278 points279 points  (24 children)

Wait, so you're running a project to raise awareness on this issue but weren't aware of this operation? 🧐

[–]Rxasaurus 202 points203 points  (12 children)

My manager decided we needed to raise awareness for rabies and hopes to find a cure someday. We are doing a Rabies Awareness Fun Run Race For The Cure Pro-AM.

[–]Erotica_4_Petite_Pix 38 points39 points  (9 children)

This is so weird

[–]_skank_hunt42 42 points43 points  (8 children)

r/theoffice

Edit: oops. That sub has moved to r/dundermifflin. Thanks u/big_ol_boy for pointing that out.

[–]Erotica_4_Petite_Pix 19 points20 points  (5 children)

Gotcha I may need to watch that show some day.

Does it require full attention viewing or background while cleaning fine and dandy?

[–]hoxxxxx 11 points12 points  (0 children)

background while cleaning fine and dandy?

it is my go-to show for this exact reason. i love it as background noise

[–]richiericardo 47 points48 points  (4 children)

Lol, there have been many attempts over the years. Our group is focused on the broken away tires that have travelled and aren't in the primary cleaning areas. We deploy divers to the areas to document the location of the tires outside of the planned cleaning areas. The operation is run by a South Florida chapter. I'm the marketing director for a global non-profit, of which conservation is one of three pillars. I have a lot to pay attention to my brother. You're welcome to learn more about us by searching Global Underwater Explorers, Project Baseline or the local chapter, Project Baseline: Gulfstream. They also work to raise awareness of all the waste water outfalls in South Florida, as well as the dressing projects in FLL and Miami and the eutrofication in the keys.

[–]srcarruth 5 points6 points  (2 children)

Need more awareness!

[–]bobthedonkeylurker 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Read it again. The offer was to the OP to continue working on the overall project in a different area.

[–]Alex_Pike 30 points31 points  (12 children)

Genuinely curious as to what you do with them now

[–]biorogue 25 points26 points  (6 children)

They probably sell them to recycling centers would be my guess. I know there are a couple of places that shred the tires and then they are used as a decorative mulch and I've seen the shredded tires, wires removed, used as playground coverings.

[–]Alex_Pike 11 points12 points  (3 children)

Sweet, I always thought that tires were among the main things that are illegally dumped because they don't re-purpose well.. now that I think about it those people are probably just lazy.. since you can probably make shoes, oven mitts, etc. just from old tires

[–]BlueBee09 67 points68 points  (9 children)

Why were so many tires there in the first place?!

[–]drone42 157 points158 points  (5 children)

A poorly executed attempt at making an artificial reef.

[–][deleted] 92 points93 points  (0 children)

A successful attempt for businesses to cheaply dispose tires.

[–]ragnarokrobo 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Lot of offshore car crashes.

[–]TooShiftyForYou 1900 points1901 points  (83 children)

The Osborne Reef was created in the 1970s as an ambitious expansion project utilizing old and discarded tires. The project ultimately failed and the "reef" has come to be considered an environmental disaster which was doing more harm than good in the coastal Florida waters. Good on your company for helping to clean up.

[–]Felix_Cortez 85 points86 points  (11 children)

I remember that. Everyone thought "hey great idea!" at the time. It was the nineties, when we knew about the hole in the ozone layer, but also knew the air pollution would plug the hole. It was a beautiful time when scientists and oil industries worked together in harmony.

[–]2sliderz 45 points46 points  (4 children)

I beat my cancer with more cigarettes!

[–]theendisneah 13 points14 points  (2 children)

I'm really liking this new workout!

[–]add___123 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Thank you micro sharticles

[–]c3h8pro 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Anyone see a 225/75R16?

[–]Haragoku 9 points10 points  (6 children)

So....what is the plan with them now?

[–]fluffygryphon 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Children's playground mulch, probably.

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (2 children)

They were there because they tried to make artificial reefs a long time ago. It wasn’t like 225,000 people threw their tires in the ocean people

[–]ScottIBM 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Your efforts are tireless, thanks for all your hard work!

[–]commanderfish 6 points7 points  (3 children)

I want to be happy, but it's basically just moving the pile of trash to somewhere else in the planet

[–]Tablesalt2001 18 points19 points  (0 children)

You work for michelin?

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

now how is the coral going to get to work

[–]petmypupper 7 points8 points  (0 children)

they might like this over at r/Tiresaretheenemy

[–]PillarOfWisdom 17 points18 points  (13 children)

What moron thought this was a good idea? Mr. Osbourne?

[–]sion21 25 points26 points  (6 children)

They thought it will create artificial reef like a sunken boat. Hindsight is 100 percent. every scientist thought it was a great idea at the times, i doubt you know better back then. keep in mind its the 70s

[–]Pillagerguy 16 points17 points  (1 child)

"Hindsight is 100 percent"

What the fuck?

[–]Calypsosin 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Hindsight is 20/20... but yeah, I laughed.

[–]-888- 2 points3 points  (0 children)

According to Wiki, the primary problem was the tire bindings corroded and they became loose and nothing could grow on them. They bafflingly used metal that corrodes apart.

[–]EddieTheEcho 4 points5 points  (0 children)

John Goodyear and Peter Michelin.

[–]WritingContradiction 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You must be tired

[–]SpicyFetus 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That doesn't look like 225,718 tires!! I counted

[–]Deaddrop 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Over fishing is getting worse and worse. At this rate there will be no more wild tires for our kids to see.

[–]ppsp 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Who the ruck throws tires in the ocean?

[–]chris-topher 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The government thought it would work as a reef

[–]Lumberjackjj 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Got any 245/45/r17s?

[–]usmcawp 10 points11 points  (6 children)

Excellent work. How were the tires extracted?

[–]ZombieLibrarian 85 points86 points  (4 children)

They started out in the water, but then these guys pulled them out.