Tires Recycled into Construction Blocks

A company called PMGI/Productive Recycling recently announced that it had devised a new method of disposing of discarded tires from the automotive industry. Roughly 300 million used tires are generated in the United States alone every year, and they amount to one of the most hard to solve problems the country is faced with it, from an environmental standpoint. Most of these tires reach the landfills, where they take up precious space, and also house different pests. In addition, they pose a very high fire hazard and release dangerous chemicals, including carbon dioxide, if they are burnt.

The managing Director of the company, Gerald Harrington, says "Scrap tires are not only a waste of valuable landfill space but a more serious waste of what is now a viable resource. To illustrate the magnitude of the used tire problem the governments, Solid Waste Management, reports indicate, there is one scrap tire produced for every three people in the United States."

"We see our process to provide a value to the community in which they [consumers] live. This is through the reduction of scrap-tire stockpiles therefore reducing insect and rodent habitat and the fire hazard," the representative adds.

The new technology, called T-Blocks, compresses tires with concrete to create a very resistant material, which can be used for a variety of purposes. According to PMGI/Productive Recycling, T-Blocks would make a valuable addition to flood control, wetland reconstruction, and soil erosion control. The material would also be suited for building slope protectors and prevent mudslides. Building foundations could also benefit from stabilizers made from the new material, especially if they are built in tremor-sensitive areas.

Each of the blocks uses between 20 and 40 tires, and the most basic processing units envisioned by the company use as much as 1,000 tires per day. Of course, larger facilities can always be constructed, so as to be able to use at least a significant fraction of the huge scrap-tire stockpiles generated in the US yearly.