news-record.com

Paul Langfield smiled as he waded waist high in the Eno River last weekend, fishing for tires and other junk.

"I'm getting a beer for every tire I find," he said and laughed.

Eleven area groups collaborated on the cleanup that cleared 50 tires and other debris from the river, organizers announced Friday.

This is the second year the coalition has supported the volunteer effort.

In July 2010, volunteers cleared 35 tires and a half ton of garbage between Hillsborough's Gold Park and the Water Treatment Facility on Elizabeth Brady Road. Last weekend brings the total to 85 tires and 1,500 pounds of debris from four miles of the Eno River in Orange County.

"We've been taking our kids canoeing and hiking out here for years and were bothered by the sight of tire after tire," said Chris Larsen, co-founder of lead sponsor Pocket Disc, makers of a crocheted flying toy.

Since they founded their Fair Trade Federation company, Phd Productions LLC, by the Eno, they felt they should help take care of it, according to a company news release.

Cleanup supporters include the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Hillsborough, Carolina Brewery, Cup-A-Joe in Hillsborough, Ayr Mount, the Eno River Association, Frog Hollow Outdoors, Orange County, the Town of Hillsborough, Weaver Street Market and Whole Foods in Chapel Hill.

Most of the recovered waste will be handled by Orange County Waste Management, while metal car parts found at Gold Park will be adapted by a local artist, according to the release.

No word on exactly how many of last weekend's 50 tires Langfield found.