DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — DeKalb County leaders vow to be aggressive in tracking down those who illegally dump tires, and they’re pressing the state legislature to toughen laws and penalties.
“If you’re dumping tires in DeKalb County, I want you to know that we’re going to hunt you down and hold you accountable,” said DeKalb County Chief Executive Officer Lorraine Cochran-Johnson.
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She said in 2025, workers have removed more than 37,000 illegally dumped tires. Line all those up, she said, and they would stretch 25 miles. Many dump sites are in wooded areas, in ravines and along creeks, and next to neighborhoods.
They’re not just an eyesore, but a public health threat. Heaps of tires attract mosquitoes and snakes and produce toxic smoke if they catch fire.
“We’ve documented cases across DeKalb where businesses drive into our county under the cloak of night and dump 3,000 tires in a single incident,” she said.
DeKalb County police recently secured warrants for two suspects in a case of large-scale tire dumping, she said, and the county has increased surveillance. Officials say dumpers often scope out sites and return at night to unload.
“We are finding that companies receiving tires under the auspices of properly disposing are among the culprits,” she said. “Because there is a fee associated with the proper disposal of tires.”
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TireTREK is a company that’s done most of the tire removal in the county, and it’s a big job.
“We’ve done many of these jobs where it’s down 30 or 40 feet down a hillside where we have to get a crane down there,” said company CEO Samantha Miller.
Cochran-Johnson said the county spent hundreds of thousands of dollars this year to remove illegally discarded tires. She’s appealing to lawmakers to make large-scale tire dumping a felony and increase fines and penalties, saying tire dumping is a problem in all 159 counties.
“This should be a bipartisan effort to make sure that every county in the state of Georgia addresses large-scale tire dumping,” said Rep. Omari Crawford, who represents DeKalb County.
Cochran-Johnson said in the first quarter of 2026, the county will launch a program to encourage residents and businesses to bring in used tires and have them properly disposed of, saying more details will come soon.
Individuals can take used tires to the landfill where they will be recycled.
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