1158203 - The Repurposing of Tires

The repurposing of tires has been an overlooked issue that has an ever increasing effect on the environment. This improper disposal leads to tires piling up in landfills, being burned, or even just thrown into tire fields. Approximately, 240 million tires are improperly disposed of each year in the United States.
The improper combustion of tires is the leading source of tire-induced air pollution, which leads to the release of toxic heavy metals into the atmosphere. Once caught on fire, tires are almost impossible to extinguish, which can prolong the fire event and add to the concentration of pollutants discharged. One of the ways tires are disposed of is into landfills, even though it is not an encouraged practice due to the issues that can arise. If a full tire is placed in a landfill, over time it can float to the top, which takes up a lot of space due to its lack of deformation. Another issue that occurs in landfills is the production of leachate. The leachate will pick up heavy metals such as cadmium, zinc, mercury, nickel, and more that are produced from degraded tires. This poses the threat of damaging the landfill liner and carrying it out into the soil which will contaminate the surrounding area. If not dealt with properly, the leachate can continue to spread and tarnish the groundwater supply.
The solutions to solve these issues are derived in this paper. The idea of mixing granulated tires with concrete has been researched before, but it was deemed not useful as it is not cost effective. This paper helps describe ways to achieve this goal. In addition, this paper talks about the possible reconfiguration of the ingredients in the standard concrete mixture. With concrete being one of the most used materials in the world, this is a simple and effective way to mass recycle tires on a global scale. The implementation of a single recycling location where tires can be sent and granulated goes hand in hand with creating a cost-effective solution. The vast majority of the costs come from the collection and disposal process; a single location solves the problem. Without a viable, effective solution, abandoned tires will continue to be an environmental detriment that pose a large threat to levels of solid waste and air pollution. The solution of repurposing these tires into a usable concrete mix needs to be implemented to fix this problem.