I’m in Las Vegas on vacation, so this story caught my eye. Nevada residents have sent about 2 million used tires each year to landfills. Now those tires can be recycled. A new state-of-the-art recycling plant opened in Las Vegas this past December.

The facility takes tires from Nevada and parts of Utah, Arizona and California. Phoenix Recycling Technologies said, “we’re producing commodities from the waste. For each ton we produce, it lowers the environmental impact of producing new materials.”

The end product produced is called “crumb rubber,” and is used as turf dressing on natural grass and on artificial playing surfaces. It’s also an ingredient for rubberized asphalt for roads, material for equestrian arenas (it reduces damage to a horse’s bones, joints, ligaments and soft tissue) and for playground surfaces (imagine what it can do to help children by avoiding injuries).

Other benefits for playgrounds include that the material will hold its color, last longer than other compounds and won’t cause splinters, attract insects or animals, or stain clothing.

Crumb rubber also can be used as a landscape mulch.

“All parts of the tire are recycled with 65 percent returned as crumb rubber, 25 percent scrap steel and 10 percent fiber.”

The company worked with Nevada state Sen. Allison Copening, D-Las Vegas, who introduced legislation to encourage tires to be recycled and ban their disposal in most of the state’s landfills. The legislation doesn’t require recycling in rural areas and bans dumping whole tires in municipal landfills.

While the cost may be higher up front, the recycled tire surfaces are a good value because they last. “Although crumb rubber blends often are more expensive than conventional asphalt, Copening said the durability of the finished product could make it worth writing into construction specifications.”

Source: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/apr/02/states-first-tire-recycling-plant-opens/

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