Magnitude of the Problem

An estimated 300 million scrap tires are generated annually in the United States-roughly one each for every American man, woman, and child. Stood up tread-to-tread, these scrap tires would circle the globe nearly seven times. Clearly, the management of these scrap tires presents significant environmental and public health challenges.

Tire-derived Fuel (TDF)
More than 50 million of these scrap tires are shredded and sold for relatively low-value uses such as TDF-a substitute for petroleum or coal. TDF offers some transitory benefits. It is a viable alternative to fossil fuels; when scrap tires are used as fuel, non-renewable fuel consumption is lower and natural resources are conserved. In addition, TDF is obtained at less environmental risk than virgin resources through conventional methods of recovery and production, e.g., oil drilling.

However, TDF also carries serious environmental and health consequences, notably, greenhouse gases (GHG) and other emissions.

Landfill
Approximately 45 million scrap tires are dumped in landfills, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s least favored method of scrap tire management. Landfilling treats scrap tires as solid waste, not as a commercial product or manufacturing feedstock.

Scrap tires in landfills foster new habitat and provide breeding grounds for disease vectors such as rodents and mosquitoes. The accumulation of scrap tires also creates the potential for fires. Tire pile fires can burn for months, sending up acrid black plumes that can be seen from miles away. Open tire fire emissions contain pollutants such as particulates, carbon monoxide, sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, hazardous air pollutants, and metals. Water sprayed on burning tires, while cooling them down, may also produce an oily run-off that can contaminate nearby surface and groundwater. As a result, some tire fires have been deliberately left to burn themselves out.

Solution Technology
We project that Reklaim's technology could recycle as many as thirty million tires annually-approximately 10% of the total scrap tires being generated each year in the U.S.