SCRAP TIRES: an environmental challenge,
avoiding disasters
There are at least one billion tires discarded around the world
each and every year.
The leaders in this scrap tire production are:
| • |
United
States of America |
| • |
Western
Europe |
| • |
The
Far East |
Of
course, scrap tires are an ecological predicament in all countries
in which automobiles and trucks are a standard mode of transportation.
Over the years, many more tires cast off in monumental piles
than recycled or burned. It is estimated that in the US alone
there are in excess of 1 billion tires in illegal tire piles,
generating dangerous conditions of uncontrollable fires, air
pollution as well as health hazards.
To date, most discarded tires were destined to be burned,
assisting in alleviating an unending energy crisis. However,
since the recognition by meteorologists of pending earth warming
trends, burning tires is
CURRENT DISTRIBUTION OF SCRAP TIRES
| • |
50%
to landfill sites and dumps |
| • |
40%
incinerated |
| • |
10%
recycled |
|
 |
quickly becoming
unacceptable and in some countries illegal.
Also to date many
of the waste tires are simply shredded and buried in landfills.
This too has become an undesirable activity as more and more
countries recognize the danger in imbedding tires or tire parts
underground, due to the negative impact on the diminishing underground
supplies of fresh water.
Finally, tire piles serve as breeding grounds to colonies of
disease infected rodents and incubation hot beds for dangerous
and deadly insects.
It is therefore obvious, recycling is now and soon will be,
the only acceptable and sustainable solution to the increasing
problem of scrap tires.
Recognizing all above, EnviroTire has invested substantial time
and resources in devising real time solutions to realistically
reduce the increasing number of scrap tires discarded annually.
Tire recycling has traditionally been accomplished using three
distinctly different technologies
| • |
All mechanical
ambient grinding |
| • |
Cryogenically,
freezing and crushing |
| • |
Pyrolysis,
microwave treatment to melt rubber* |
*
Of the three known technologies listed above, only the first
two have been tested under actual manufacturing conditions.
Pyrolysis is still in laboratory stage and has not yet been
tested under actual manufacturing conditions (3-2002).
|
