BonnerSprings.com / Photo galleries / Kaw River Cleanup

Almost 100 volunteers gathered Saturday, March 11, at a remote spot along the Kaw River south of Linwood, Kan. Their purpose was to clean up about 1,000 old tires littering a sandbar. The project was organized by Friends of the Kaw and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Helping out were 46 employees from AMCOR, a Lenexa plastics manufacturing plant.

First step in the massive cleanup project was to dig the tires out of the sandbar and stack them for transfer to a collection point above the sandbar.

Photo by John Beal

Laura Calwell, the Kansas Riverkeeper, organized the cleanup effort. Calwell said it looked as if about a thousand tires had been deliberately embedded in the sandbar.

Photo by John Beal

Several volunteers are framed by the arms of the tracked hoe operated by Dave McCowan of Kaw Valley Sand and Gravel.

Photo by John Beal

Volunteers Ellyn Owen of Baldwin, left, and Susie Nightingale of Lawrence struggle to roll a tire to one of the gathering spots on the sandbar. Both women were from the Environmental Stewardship Team at Lawrence's Trinity Episcopal Church. The tires were difficult to move because many were packed with mud and sand.

Photo by John Beal

Kyle Clark hauls tires up the riverbank to the collection point. Clark was one of about 46 employees from AMCOR, a Lenexa plastics manufacturing plant, who volunteered for the Saturday morning tire cleanup.

Photo by John Beal

Joe Montaleone of AMCOR uses a little body English to get all the way up the hill.

Photo by John Beal

After the tires were hauled up the hill, they were stacked ready for loading on a truck for disposal. Here, Roberto Remose of Kaw Valley Sand and Gravel unties the tires from Vickie Matney's ATV.

Photo by John Beal