Baler transforms used tires into useful product
Remember the days when rubber tires were the bane of a landfill operation? They wouldn't stay buried. They wouldn't disintegrate. They harbored water, which nourished mosquitoes. Their supply was endless. And they were increasing. Those days are fading.
Today those throwaway tires are being put to good uses. They are being compacted and serving such purposes as for erosion control, road bases, soil elevations and as crash barriers.
Key is getting tires into compact form
The key to putting this used material to work is getting it into a compact form so that it can be used again. Encore Systems, Inc. is one company, which has answered this need with a machine, called the tire baler.
The En-Core baler is a vertical down stroke portable baler, which can compress up to 100 whole passenger and light truck tires into a block measuring 30"x50"x60". The weight of the compacted block, which represents a volume reduction of five to one, is approximately one ton. In this compacted form, up to 2,400 tires can be transported on a flatbed truck.
One project that benefited form this recycled material was the Lake Carlsbad/Pecos River Bank Stabilization Project. This project began in September of 1997, and will ultimately use approximately 700,000 recycled scrap tires in the form of one ton bales to stabilize 4,400 feet of the East bank of the Pecos River in Lake Carlsbad, NM. The riverbank has been eroding due to the wave action from watercraft.
After draining the river, to allow for construction of the erosion control project, the first step was to dig a three to four foot deep trench along the river's edge. This was lined with a concrete foundation, and set with steel reinforcing bars. Then, one ton bales produced by Encore's baler were set on top of the concrete and secured in place.
The next step involved encapsulating the tire bales in concrete. The encasement in concrete enabled the tire bales to serve as a foundation for a concrete block wall, and prepared them for the application of a layer of facing stone which was laminated to the front of the bales.
A block retaining wall was then constructed on top of the bales and back fill will be applied behind the wall.
The City of Carlsbad used the tire bales because of their low cost and environmental safety. According to City Administrator Jon Tully, "It kills two birds with one stone. It stops the erosion, but it also gives us something to do with scrap tires." For more information, Tully may be contact at 505-887-1191.
An outstanding use for the used tires was found when it was used as a subgrade, lightweight fill for road construction in Chautauqua County, NY.
Recycled tires offer many benefits as lightweight fill
Benefits as lightweight fill over marginal soils that the recycled tires offer include its insulation properties and the fact that it is less expensive. The rubber blocks made from compressed scrap tires are from one-half to one-fifth the weight of conventional materials used in road construction. In wet areas where marginal soils are present, the blocks can be used as a sub-grade base, which will effectively float over the marginal areas. Conventional materials can then be applied over the blocks.
For more information on this project, contact Ken Smith, deputy director department of public works at 716- 661-8400.
En-Core Systems, Inc. may be contacted directly at 218-328-0023 or 888-548-6710. The e-mail address is encore@tirebaler.com.
By Joyce Jungclaus, Editor, Public Works Online