It’s Kuhl To Recycle: Turning Tires Into Asphalt

The US Generates 300 Million Scrap Tires Every Year

By Mark Kuhl

For the GPHN

How many of us remember the unsightly black smoke rising from burning piles of tires during the 1980s? Those tire fires triggered efforts to figure out ways to recycle those old tires.

Today many scrap tires are reused, but not in the most climate-friendly way. A Michigan market development study suggests we in the U.S. generate around 300 million scrap tires every year — 80 percent of them are processed for three secondary uses.  A large portion (40 percent) fuels electricity power plants, cement kilns and paper mills. Another 30 percent are shredded into small pieces for use in asphalt, pathways, and athletic fields. The remainder is used as permeable fill for civil engineering drainage projects.

There is a new push to divert scrap tires from being burned and instead used in rubber-modified asphalt.  California and Arizona are perfecting this use of scrap tires and have figured out how to reduce the cost; therefore more states are beginning to follow.

Mark Kuhl is an environmental advocate who lives in Park Hill with his family. His handy tips and news about recycling household items appear every month in these pages. A directory of his past columns for recycling everything from paint to Styrofoam to shoes is at greaterparkhill.org/sustainability/recycling-directory/.