A Tire Story
Posted on March 26th, 2009 - 10:30 AMAbout the author: Brenda Reyes Tomassini joined EPA in 2002. She is a public affairs specialist in the San Juan, Puerto Rico office and also handles community relations for the Caribbean Environmental Protection Division.
Rubber protects my bones and ligaments while I jog in my neighborhood park. Yet if not properly recycled, it can be more harm than good. In Puerto Rico 4.7 million scrap tires are disposed of every year and nearly 300 million in the United States. While there is a market for their proper recycling and productive use, such as the ground rubber surface I love to run on, almost one quarter of scrap tires end up in landfills and illegal dumps every year.
While tire regulations vary from state to state, and they are not treated generally a hazardous waste, they are threats to human health and the environment when not properly disposed of. Rodents and mosquitoes, such as aedes aegypti, may live and breed in them if they collect water. Fires, which are hard to extinguish, can release hazardous gases, heavy metals and oils that can contaminate not only the air but also the soil.
Tires can be used in environmentally safe applications such as ground rubber, like the one used in rubber-modified asphalt and playground applications, and rubber mulch. Some 56 million tires are recycled in the US for civil engineering projects and some 16.5 million are re-treaded.
In spite of all these good uses and outreach efforts being performed by local and federal environmental agencies and municipal anti-tire dumping laws, many scrap tires end up in our rivers and beaches harming habitats and ecosystems. Furthermore, during the last OSV Bold trip to Puerto Rico we found some tires floating in the ocean, miles away from the Atlantic coast.
In order to help state and local governments reduce the economic burdens and environmental risks associated with scrap tire piles, EPA Region 5 created the Scrap Tire Cleanup Guidebook. This guidebook provides the experience of dozens of professionals to assist government officials in reducing scrap tire dumping and creating prevention programs.
As an individual citizen there are many things that can be done to prevent tires from ending up in the wrong place and becoming a nuisance. If you have unused tires at home, you may be able to return surplus tires to either a tire retailer or a local recycling facility that accepts them. Also buy durable tires and take proper care of them by checking air inflation, driving in a manner that does not put unnecessary demand on tires, rotating them, balancing the wheels, and maintaining proper wheel alignment. And last but not least, support the recycled product market.
Tags: recycled rubber, scrap tires, tires
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Question of the Week
March 26th, 2009 at 10:41 am
Great blog. Valuable information. Thanks.
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March 27th, 2009 at 8:07 am
If the processes for recycling is done proprly, the rubber wasting and the harmful environment created due to the useless disposal of tire, will be reduced. This will again helps in enhancing the environmental friendly nature.. Tires enable better vehicle performance by providing traction, braking, steering, and load support. Tires form a flexible cushion between the vehicle and the road, which smooths out shock and makes for a comfortable ride. Recycle it properly, will surely give a long life to the vehicle.
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March 31st, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Rubber protects my bones and ligaments while I jog in my neighborhood park. I feel uncomfortable about this introduction. It seems akwardly placed and off putting. Is there a certain shoe company who claims stakes in america’s rubber policies? More importantly, is there a plastic pollution problem that future generations will be forced to clean up if we dont act now against free-market”ing” and brainwashing.
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Brenda-EPA reply on April 6, 2009 2:06 pm:
Nicole: I was not referring to my shoes but to the surface I run in my park which is made from recycled tires.
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March 31st, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Please excuse my own akward language and criticism. That’s another subject for another time, but we are eager to change things from the roots of the problems and maybe tire waste could be prevented if there were more regulations on production quality. Then, natural competition would rise from a quality based and more or less needed product that is ecologically non-variable. Finally creating buisness that was more concerned with client service than profit. Or what about tire companies which risk and fear slowed buisness taking up recycling services?
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April 24th, 2009 at 7:43 am
The Washington County Solid Waste Department’s Recycling Office will offer a scrap tire drop-off day for county residents, according to a county press release.
==>> David Matt
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