More than 500 tires removed from Kansas River, conservation group says

TOPEKA (KSNT) - Thanks to the efforts of volunteers and a conservation group, the Kansas River is a little cleaner this year.

The Friends of the Kaw and around 60 volunteers participated in a tire cleanup on the Kansas River on a sandbar just east of Topeka back in October, according to Program Manager Kim Bellemere. The conservation group recently learned their efforts resulted in the removal of 519 tires from the Kansas River.

Bellemere said tire cleanups have become a yearly activity for the Friends of the Kaw. Each fall, they target a new sandbar and focus on removing tires and other trash from the area.

Bellemere said the tires that accumulated on sandbars are from a previous project to help improve the river.

"They're leftovers from riverbank stabilization projects decades ago," Bellemere said. "They wash off the banks and just tend to gather in certain locations."

The Friends of the Kaw aren't the only ones out on the river. Seven other groups that volunteered with the tire cleanup included Futamura, Evergy Green Team, Kansas Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, Keep It Clean Kansas, Shawnee County Parks and Recreation, The Rotary Club of Topeka and Walton's Inc.

The group filled a dumpster with trash collected from the river and removed several hundred tires all in the span of a few hours, according to Bellemere.

"We celebrate that we get so many tires off the river because so many people work so hard to get this done," Bellemere said. "The entire river isn't dirty, these are situations where trash just so happens to accumulate there."

The Friends of the Kaw is a conservation group that focuses on keeping the Kansas River clean. You can learn more about their organization by visiting their website here.