How Are Scrap Tires Used
Before
recycling, tires must be reduced to manageable-size pieces.
Tires may be shredded with the metal bead wires still in
place, or have the wires removed before shredding. The bead
wires may then be recycled separately. The process of
shredding and grinding scrap tire rubber, and the shred
size, will depend upon its intended end use.
Passenger car and small truck tires can be initially
reduced in rotary shear shredders to pieces ranging in size
from 1 to 3 inches. In most situations, metal and fiber is
still attached to the pieces. These can be removed later in
the process by grinding and milling, and through the use of
powerful magnets.
The use of tire shred in engineering applications is an
expanding market. Projects using tire shred are being
designed and built in a growing number of communities in
accordance with design and construction guidelines
developed through an industry-government partnership.
Typical applications include using shred as a lightweight
fill for highway embankments, retaining walls and bridge
abutments, as an insulation to limit the depth of frost
penetration beneath roads, and as a base layer in leachate
collection systems.
