Third world cutting up tires for scrapping

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Apr 27, 2010
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Suburban Washington DC
I take some old tires to the county dump a few times a year, but now they started scanning drivers licenses and saying you're limited to 5 per year. So I searched online for methods of cutting them up to fit in the trash. I guess this is how they do it in the 3rd world. OSHA inspectors head would explode seeing that. Not open toe shoes, but NO shoes at all.

 
That's a lot of work! All you have to do is cut it enough to fit in the trash can :D

I was able to fit a complete donut tire/wheel in the trash can once :sneaky:
 
Dumb...by limiting 5 a year they are begging people to throw them out into the environment or spawning new private tire dumps. Nice video.
I understand their point because the average person actually disposes ZERO tires per year and commercial outfits that do dispose of tires are charged a fee (and we consumers are charged that fee when we buy new tires). By limiting the number of tires, they're keeping tire shops from bringing them to the dump.
 
I understand their point because the average person actually disposes ZERO tires per year and commercial outfits that do dispose of tires are charged a fee (and we consumers are charged that fee when we buy new tires). By limiting the number of tires, they're keeping tire shops from bringing them to the dump.
Why not charge a fee per tire no matter who brings them in.
 
Tires buried whole in a landfill tend to "float" to the surface. They need to be cut up first.

Look up "crumb rubber." It was found that grinding old tires into small pieces, using a magnet to pull the steel out for separate recycling, and mixing the rubber bits into asphalt for pavement made the pavement last a lot longer. Thus solving two problems at once.

The industry that paves roads lobbied Congress very hard, and successfully, against making this legal.
 
We pay $0.50 per new tire for the cleanup of tire dumps around the state. Our local tire shredder will usually not charge if it’s just a few tires you bring them. If they do it’s like $1-$2 a tire or something real cheap.
 
Look up "crumb rubber." It was found that grinding old tires into small pieces, using a magnet to pull the steel out for separate recycling, and mixing the rubber bits into asphalt for pavement made the pavement last a lot longer. Thus solving two problems at once.

The industry that paves roads lobbied Congress very hard, and successfully, against making this legal.

Wow, had no idea there had been a legal case against that. The high school my kids attend was constructed in the early 1990's while I was still in grade school. When I was up in higher grades, like 6, 7, 8, we would go there and use their (very new) track, which had been produced using this process or similar, comprised of asphalt made using tire rubber. It was a fantastic surface to run on (has a bit more give than traditional compressed asphalt) and has held up incredibly well, though I believe they've done something to colour the surface now, as it was black when I was a kid, IIRC, and it now has a brown tone to it:

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Why not charge a fee per tire no matter who brings them in.
That fee covers the cost of recycling so why not be allowed to leave tires there.
That question is best answered by the facility. Ask them ? My guess is they just don't want to deal with it on a high volume, fee or no fee. It's the same as our county dump in that I can put drywall, flooring, an old toilet and sink in the back of a pickup and dump it for free. They allow "free" dumping for residents but the guy (company) that brings a dump truck full of a renovated house is charged by the pound ... because he is there 3x a week.
 
In our state and probably most states you pay a tax on new tires and when you turn them in you pay another fee, all for disposal/recycling.

The ground rubber in asphalt should be done more just like the experiments done by mixing ground glass in asphalt. Both produce longer wearing surfaces and help reuse waste.
 
The industry that paves roads lobbied Congress very hard, and successfully, against making this legal.
That would be the oil industry, since all asphalt comes from crude oil. This was a good idea, but it came with it's own set of issues. Ductility of the finished road surface was diminished, stone coating became an issue, and many other aspects of roadbuilding. Some state regulations require a lot more specific propeties in the asphalt than you can imagine.

This forced the tire disposal industry to find other uses for the material. Those running tracks, playgrounds, colored mulches, etc. Not all of them bad.
I don't think making new tires out of the waste was ever viable either, but not sure.
 
I pay $280 per ton to get rid of mine.

When you crunch the numbers a typical 195 65r15 is about $1.50.

I like this better than the "per tire" fee, mostly because I drive econoboxes with reasonable sized tires. I do have to save up ten tires to get the bulk rate, but I manage to make the cutoff every year or two.
 
I understand their point because the average person actually disposes ZERO tires per year and commercial outfits that do dispose of tires are charged a fee (and we consumers are charged that fee when we buy new tires). By limiting the number of tires, they're keeping tire shops from bringing them to the dump.
Exactly. The average person buys a set of tires every three years or more at a commercial tire shop-and has zero need to dump tires in a landfill. Unlike some on here-99.5% of vehicle owners do not have a "mount and balance" machine in their garages.
 
you pay a tax on new tires
That is the excise tax which is a similar concept to a gas tax, people who buy tires and gas are using the roads.

In Europe there is a tax on almost all new consumer goods to cover proper disposal. When the item reaches the end of its useful life you simply turn it in to the government and they take care of it, since that was already paid for.
 
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