What Happens Next to Tires

Carrying precious cargo while on your car, your tires have the opportunity for hundreds of uses across a myriad of industries once they are regarded as scrap.

According to the Rubber Manufacturer’s Association, there are three main uses for scrap tires: tire-derived fuel (TDF), civil engineering and ground rubber.

Tire-Derived Fuel

TDF utilizes granulated tires in the place of traditional fuels in cement kilns, pulp and paper factories, electric utilities and various boilers. TDF is an effective fuel, producing the same amount of energy as oil and 25 percent more than coal. TDF is not considered to be genuine recycling, but is worth mentioning since an estimated 52 percent of all scrap tires are used in this manner. This waste-to-energy process harnesses energy that would have otherwise been lost to a landfill.

Civil Engineering

Recycled scrap tires play a meaningful role in civil engineering processes, consuming 16 percent of the scrap tire available in 2005. Tire shreds are cost-effective substitutes for traditional materials when they are used to stabilize weak soil, such as constructing road embankments or as a subgrade (below the ground level of a project) fill. Additionally, tire shreds provide effective subgrade insulation for roads, walls and bridge abutments.

Whole tires are employed in a number of capacities, such as:

• Erosion control
• Wetlands or marsh establishment
• Crash barriers around racetracks
• Boat bumpers in marinas
• Planters for home gardens
• Tire swings

Ground Rubber

Ground rubber, or “crumb” rubber, is being used to a greater extent in many states in rubberized asphalt applications and is the largest single use of recycled rubber. Its benefits include noise reduction, shorter breaking distances, reduced road maintenance and more cost-effective, durable road surfaces. Arizona and California are the leaders in rubberized asphalt consumption.

Ground rubber also serves a number of sports and recreational purposes. Used in shock-absorbing running tracks and ground cover under playgrounds, the springy and responsive nature of rubber decreases the impact of running or falling. Also added to soil under playing fields, crumb rubber improves drainage and root structure of grass. Ground rubber applications accounted for 12 percent of scrap tire use in 2005.

By utilizing them in an innovative way, our tires not only take us from point A to point B, but from roadway to track to everywhere in between.