Used Tires: Pollution or Resource?

I don’t know about you, but I pick up junked tires that other people dump off the side of mountain roads in my county - usually along with assorted junked appliances and badly bagged household trash - and take them with me when I do the monthly trash run to our local Inconvenient Center. I call it that instead of its own self-title of “Convenient Center” because it’s damned IN-convenient. They put all their dumpsters inside a compound with high chain link topped by barbed wire and guarded by a grizzled old grouch (and his junkyard dog) who seem to really hate the idea that people have trash and recyclables to responsibly dispose of, which is only open 3 days a week when almost all of us are actually out working honest jobs instead of hauling our own trash.

Anyway, there is a corner of the inconvenient center devoted to junked appliances and tires, which supposedly get recycled at some point (though I’ve never noticed the piles to go down any). Better to have those big junk items at the center than on the roads and hillsides. They never biodegrade, they are breeding grounds for mosquitoes, and they look really nasty. So, you might have been wondering, how exactly do they recycle things like the 190 million car, truck and equipment tires tossed every year in this nation, and what COULD be done with them?

My friend Vito over at RideLust has asked the obvious question, based on a recycling technology that could actually be of some great use and wouldn’t spread West Nile Fever. It’s called Rubberized Asphalt Concrete [RAC], and it would not only give us better, longer lasting road surfaces, it would save us a whole heck of a lot of petroleum dependence!

Now, used tires can be used as fuel, even though burning tires are terrible air pollutants. They could be re-capped and used again on vehicles, but retreads are notoriously subject to blowing apart at highway speeds, killing more people than cheap tires are ever going to be worth. Some of the plusses Vito lists for RAC are:

• Reduces road noise by as much as 85%
• A 2-inch layer of RAC can save $50K per lane mile over conventional asphalt.
• RAC can prevent cracks in the underlying pavement.
• RAC retains its color better than conventional asphalt and markings remain more visible.
• RAC saves on maintenance costs and can last 50% longer than standard asphalt.
• RAC provides better traction and can reduce traffic accidents in poor weather conditions.

Whoa! Something better, cheaper, safer… what’ll they think of next? Any ideas on how to convince government bid-takers to go with a preference for RAC over conventional asphalt for paving would be appreciated, just put ‘em in the comments. Do drop in on RideLust, and check out the other links below for good uses of this tire scurge!

Links:

RideLust: Where’s the Rubberized Asphalt Concrete?
RideLust: Asphalt is Oil
Used Tires and Pistachio Shells Can Clean Up Pollution
EPA: Solid Waste Management
The Use of Used Tires in Water Systems
Snow Chain Made of a Used Tire

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Filed under Energy, Environment, Pollution, Recycling |