Don’t “tire” yourself

Environmental impact of car tires

Ever wonder what it takes to make car tires? What happens to old tires? What is this process doing to the planet? The California Integrated Waste Management Board did a very interesting and in depth report on waste tires. It is very long, so you can read it here . This post will give a short overview to get you started on learning about tire manufacturing.

First where does rubber come from? Top countries are Brazil, Asia and Africa. Here is a graph of the top five.

	Country	Production 2010	Production 2004	Percent Change
1	Thailand	3,166,910 m/t	3,007,612 m/t	+ 5.296 %
2	Indonesia	2,921,872 m/t	2,065,820 m/t	+ 41.439 %
3	Malaysia	1,072,400 m/t	1,168,700 m/t	- 8.24 %
4	India	819,000 m/t	749,665 m/t	+ 9.249 %
5	Viet Nam	659,600 m/t	419,000 m/t	+ 57.422 %

How does it affect habitat?

Generally, single crops like palm oil and rubber are better adapted for monoculture (single crop plantations), so forest lands are cleared, taking away vital habitat for a variety of species. Also single crop farming makes the crop very vulnerable to disease and can be risky with fluctuating  economies (Butler,2012).                            

Tire production        

The process of tire production and the additives and processes involve many toxic chemicals. The report from California is very comprehensive.

Tire waste and recycling                              

Only 7% of the total mass quantity of tires produced are currently recycled. Tires can be used as fuel alternatives. Combustion facilities currently using tires as fuel include: (1) power plants; (2) tire manufacturing plants; (3) cement kilns; (4) pulp and paper plants; and (5) small package steam generators. This produces toxic emissions.

Continue reading about all the pitfalls of tire production from the link above.

Reference:

Butler, R., 2012. THE IMPACT OF INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE IN RAINFORESTS. Mongabay.com. Online. Available at: http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0811.htm

http://top5ofanything.com/index.php?h=7738a992

California Integrated Waste management Board, 1996. EFFECTS OF WASTE TIRES, WASTE TIRE FACILITIES, AND WASTE TIRE PROJECTS ON THE ENVIRONMENT. Online. Available at:

http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/publications/Documents/Tires%5C43296029.pdf [Accessed on 08/28/2013].

image credit:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rubbermold.jpg