Michael Glatfelter routinely encounters giant piles of tires as he spins through Fairmount Park on his daily bike rides.
Glatfelter, 74, started spying the illegal dumps in secluded areas two years ago. Now he says he encounters them at least once a month and is disgusted by their persistence — even as the city clears the piles within days.
“There has to be a way of catching these people,” he said.
Philadelphia officials say they are also frustrated by the tire whack-a-mole and are strategizing to prevent it. They say there have been at least 40 large-scale illegal dumping incidents on parkland citywide just this year. More than one-third involved tires, with dumpers frequently bringing them in via rented U-Haul trucks.
On Tuesday, crews from Philadelphia Parks and Recreation cleared 800 tires from Fairmount Park brought in by someone driving a U-Haul. The truck and tires were abandoned near Centennial Arboretum off Avenue of the Republic.
“This is part of a broader trend,” said Ra’Chelle Rogers, a spokesperson for parks and recreation.
If caught, the dumper faces millions in fines.
For his part, Glatfelter doesn’t blame officials. He posted a video to his Facebook page earlier this month of construction trucks cleaning up a massive pile of tires, with a caption describing how sick he was of living in a dirty city.
“I blame our citizenry. I’m sorry to say, but I think we are totally worthy of that ‘Filthadelphia’ moniker,” he said in an interview.
‘So wide-open’
Fairmount Park is considered a jewel of Philadelphia, with more than 2,000 acres split between the east and west sides of the Schuylkill. But its sprawling network of roads and remote areas also make it easy for dumpers to access undetected.
“Fairmont Park is so wide-open, which is the beautiful thing about it,” said Natalie Walker, sustainability director for parks and recreation. “The challenge is keeping it beautiful while also preventing the kind of activity that degrades the park and takes away staff time.”
Officials are asking the public to report any instances via the 311 system and to call 911 if they spot live dumping. They are also asking the public to share information that could identify dumpers if they feel safe doing so.
The city has installed cameras in various park areas known for persistent dumping, Walker said.
Violators face fines of up to $5,000 per illegally dumped item. Over the past three years, parks and recreation has issued $1.3 million in violations for illegal dumping on parkland.
One strategy is to fortify park perimeters by blocking vehicle access without sacrificing the welcoming green space for pedestrians and cyclists, Walker said.
For example, parks and recreation has installed three new gates near George’s Hill in West Fairmount Park, a dumping hot spot.
The city has also organized cleanups and installed fencing, gates, and guardrails at other chronic dumping sites. They’ve installed bollards and boulders, as well as lock covers engineered to thwart bolt cutters.
A $4 million fine?
Parks and recreation is working with police to identify the dumper in Tuesday’s incident.
That cleanup was triggered when park rangers and local partners spotted a stuck U-Haul truck abandoned next to several piles of tires. Officials determined the dump consisted of 8.4 tons of debris, translating to an estimated 800 tires.
Although the U-Haul was reported stolen, investigators are looking into whether the driver got stuck and possibly falsely reported the theft to escape liability, Walker said.
Walker said the dumper faces fines of up to $5,000 per item, amounting to about $4 million.
Illegal dumping occurs when unscrupulous shops pay people to dispose of tires cheaply and avoid disposal costs of about $100 per ton, Walker said.
The city routinely issues civil notices of violations, Walker said. She noted a 2023 incident when a repeat offender was fined $380,000 after being caught on camera dumping near Ormiston Mansion on Reservoir Drive.
Walker said parks and recreation has a grant from the William Penn Foundation to implement part of its strategy. For example, park ambassador Dan Lidon conducts daily inspections, maps hot spots, and coordinates with community groups.
Dumping beyond Fairmount
Residents, community nonprofits, and parks groups say dumping is widespread in other parks, vacant lots, and remote areas.
In 2024, an estimated 4,000 tires choked a wooded ravine off Newtown and Adams Avenues, a stretch of debris sprawling more than 100 feet through Tacony Creek Park. The city used its own workers as well as a chain of volunteers to remove them.
And this year, The Inquirer reported on what’s possibly the city’s largest illegal dump off Pennway Street in Northeast Philadelphia, which spans more than a city block and spills down a treacherous slope that’s difficult to access.
In July, a group of 75 Philadelphia residents representing neighborhood groups and nonprofits gathered at the Discovery Center in Fairmount Park to map, by hand, illegal legacy dumps throughout the city.
The group is still compiling information and a map that will eventually be posted online.
Yet despite these efforts, it hasn’t made much of a difference to Glatfelter’s eyes, at least.
“I know the mayor says, ‘cleaner, greener’ …but I know the city is not clean. It’s just not,” he said.
