Friday, January 24, 2014

Where have all the scrap tires gone?

How often have you wondered what happens to the old tires? The car tires are made up of such a material that they can handle extreme conditions, so of course they are not biodegradable.

The buried tires can trap many poisonous gases that might escape them. This can be very dangerous for people living around. Another very common thing that happens to these buried tires is that the gases escape all at once making the tires shoot up high in the air. They come back on earth with a great force and can hurt people.

A scrap tire if allowed to stay on the ground can hold rainwater. These tires can then become breeding grounds for vectors of many diseases. Tires left on the ground can also catch fire as they are made of extremely inflammable substances. So what actually happens to these tires?

Tires often are buried to degrade. The rubber being non-biodegradable takes over 100 years to decompose. Another problem with burying them is that they pollute the soil by leaching toxins. This practice has now been changed and recycling of tires has come up as a better way of getting rid of them.

Almost 80% of the scrap tires are now being recycled. Scrap tires are converted into crumb rubber by shredding them into very small pieces. This crumb rubber can then be used to make mats, shoes, furniture, rubber play space and almost anything. This crumb rubber is as safe and resistant as any other rubber. The tires are removed from the scrap cars after Scrap Car Removal at various scrap yards and are fed to the tire mulching plant. These mulching plants convert the tires into crumb rubber.

Another major use of old tires is in cement kilns. The scrap tires are burnt and used to fuel the factories. However, this is not a very eco-friendly way of getting rid of the old tires. On being burnt, tires produce toxic gases, which can harm our environment and us.

See How Tire Recycling is Done:


Old tires are also used in producing civil-engineered products and various in-ground products. Some companies are also working to use these old tires in a more novel and eco-friendly way. Scrap tires are being used as rubber tenders in tugboats. They are also used in a decorative way for playgrounds. However, these are not the solutions to get rid of large number scrap tires. The most practical and environment safe solution till now has been to recycle it into crumb rubber.

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