A popular Reddit post highlights exactly what you don't want to find at your favorite camping spot — nearly 70 tires that were dumped into the nearby lake.
According to the post, a Cub Scout pack and their families managed to pull the tires out of Falls Lake, which is in a state recreation area near Raleigh, North Carolina. The area offers a large variety of activities, including camping, biking, hiking, and swimming.
Unfortunately, litter in any form takes away from the beauty of nature, and it also poses a threat to the wildlife in the area — tires are no exception.
Tires can take up to 2,000 years to decompose, according to Stacker, so once they are dumped in a place like the Falls Lake, they'll be interrupting your scenic views for quite a while.
On top of that, as tires break down, they leach harmful chemicals into the ground and water. Tires are flammable as well and difficult to extinguish once they've caught fire. Having a number of them dumped in natural areas creates a fire hazard, Ecogreen reports.
Some comments on the Reddit post also reveal a bigger problem — it is unfortunately common for tires to be dumped in these areas because it can be inconvenient to dispose of them properly.
One commenter says, "I work at a center for hard-to-recycle materials, and we charge like 35 [cents] a pound for tires. There's no government funding for stuff like that (at least in Georgia)."
It is unfortunate that it's not easier to recycle these products, but there are places designated to help properly dispose of tires, and you can find the steps to do so here.
Others on the post expressed their disappointment at the sight of the pile of tires, with one saying, "Wish people would recycle their tires instead of throwing them into our reservoirs."
"Sad to see this," another adds.
"It's a damn shame," another writes.
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