Off Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a well-intentioned experiment from the 1970s has become a costly environmental headache. The Osborne Tire Reef was promoted as a way to create new marine life by dumping up to two million used tires into the ocean. Now a major cleanup is expected to cost $137 million and run for the next 14 years. The project began in 1972, with tires intended to provide habitat and attract fish. Incomplete records leave the total deposited uncertain, with later estimates ranging from about one million to two million.
State figures show that 535,676 tires had been removed from the authorized area by the end of 2025. Yet a 2024 survey counted about 521,000 visible tires across more than 6,000 acres of seabed, roughly 2,400 hectares. That count excludes tires buried beneath sand or outside mapped zones. The survey estimated about 429,000 tires on sandy bottoms and as many as 92,000 touching coral-reef habitat. These figures cover different stages and scopes of the cleanup, not a definitive count of every tire remaining. Broward Artificial Reef Inc. led the original project, which had state and federal approval and began in 1972. Early records show that 50,000 tires were dumped in April 1972 and another 190,000 in November 1973. Incomplete documentation means the total could be as high as two million.
From Solution to Problem
The tires were bundled with plastic straps and metal clips, but saltwater corroded the metal and waves broke the bundles apart. Over decades, storms and currents scattered the tires across the seabed and into natural reefs, where they scraped the seafloor and battered fragile coral. The Conversation summarized the lesson of the Osborne case this way: “Artificial reefs can at best supplement conservation, but they are not a substitute for protecting natural habitats.” The project created a sprawling field of debris that now threatens the habitats it was meant to help, instead of fostering marine life.
Florida's Department of Environmental Protection has used sonar and geographic information system (GIS) mapping to guide commercial divers as they locate and extract the tires. Divers group them, attach lift bags, and haul them to boats equipped with cranes. Each trip can remove up to 300 tires, which are then taken to Port Everglades for processing or recycling. Military teams have already helped extract more than 72,000 tires. The scale of the problem remains daunting.
Restoration Challenges
Every tire touching coral must be checked carefully. If divers find live coral, they must relocate the colony before moving the tire. That process slows progress and raises costs, but it is impressive to prevent further ecological harm. Florida officials acknowledge that some tires may stay in place if removing them would cause more damage than leaving them undisturbed.
The 2024 restoration plan estimated that 429,000 tires lay on sandy seabeds and 92,000 touched reef structures. The state aims to remove 945,804 tires from the authorized area by 2033, but that figure is not a full recount of all tires present. The estimate of visible tires also excludes material buried beneath sediment or outside mapped areas. Sargassum blooms add to the environmental pressures and can harm coral reefs, but at Osborne, the basic threat remains the tires' physical impact.
Long Road Ahead
The full removal and restoration effort is projected to continue through the 2037 to 2038 fiscal year, provided funding and contracts remain in place. Of the estimated $137 million cost, about $78 million is allocated for tires on sand, $19 million for those on reefs, and $40 million for biological restoration. Annual spending is expected to range from $6 million to $13 million. In September 2025, Florida signed a contract targeting tires that directly damage the reef, with work scheduled through September 2032.
The Osborne Tire Reef is a cautionary tale of unintended consequences. What began as a recycling initiative has become a multi-generational environmental and financial burden, partly because the restraints holding the bundles together failed in seawater and the tires began to move. The official Osborne Reef project page compiles reports and historical documents. The 2024 restoration plan sets out the budget and timeline, along with the planned methods. Other ambitious ecological interventions have also faced scrutiny. The widely circulated but unsubstantiated claims about tortoises greening the Sahara were examined in this recent analysis.
