Volunteers picked up enough old tires to supply the field of the Indy 500 during a big cleanup effort in Jim Thorpe Borough recently.

And now borough officials are looking at beefing up penalties for people who dump illegally.Workers cleaned up about 175 tires, as well as old TVs and other trash that were dumped in the area of the Switchback Trail May 7, according to borough manager Maureen Sterner.The tires, which appeared to be dumped over a long period of time, were in a location surrounded by steep slopes. Volunteers were using cables to pull up the tires and load them into trucks nearby, Sterner said."This happens to be just a bit of a different location - because of the steep banks," she said.The cleanup was held in conjunction with a recycling event for Jim Thorpe residents. The amount of stuff dropped off there was even more impressive - nearly 300 televisions, 100 computers and another 280 tires.Sterner said that while the cleanup was a success, it means that the borough has work to do in order to combat illegal dumping. She said in light of the cleanup, council directed their solicitor to look into strengthening the borough's illegal dumping ordinance.Sterner said they haven't discussed whether to do another cleanup day, but that there are still many tires left that the small group of volunteers couldn't get to."It would be nice to do something annually, there are plenty more still to be cleaned up," she said.