Editor's note: This is the second part of a two-part series of columns on the issue of waste tires' impact on the environment. If you missed the first part, you can find it at www.squamishchief.com or www.movingplanets.net
When 7 million tires burn, they don't disappear, like smoke, after the flames. While it melts, one single tire releases two gallons of oil into the earth. It took the City of Tracy, Calif., eight years and $18 million to clean up the mess and remove the hazardous waste caused by the fire that consumed the town's illegal stock of tires in 1998.
No wonder Johnny Delaney's stomach turns whenever he sees a tire burn, and during his delivery runs in Mexico's Baja, he doesn't have to try hard to catch a whiff of smouldering rubber. It's often the case that fires at disposal sites start by themselves, but in many instances, residents (governments as well) burn the tires deliberately to get rid of the waste, at great risk both to the environment and human health. In this sense, it's a problem that almost one-third of used tires in Baja are burned as fuel in cement works — emissions from burning tires are more toxic and dangerous than those from coal and gas operations.
So Johnny Delaney smiles to himself every time he spots a tire spared from the fire — the one million and one uses that the Mexicans have found for them bring contentment, and obvious signs of relief, to his face. In Baja, tires are a construction staple, both in retaining walls and erosion prevention. They also make excellent shoe soles, flower-pots, staircases, belts… even children's playsets!
But what makes Johnny the happiest is the new tire recycling plant in La Paz, and César Firmato-Pozo certainly shares his joy over that. As the city's Director of Environmental Health, Mr. Pozo knows the problems associated with tires very well. It was his lucky day when he met Alfredo Benitez not so long ago. Mr. Benitez has been designing "cradle-to-cradle" systems for 20 years or more — that is, when Mr. Benitez looks around, he doesn't see waste, but priceless resources instead, and the tire recycling plant is his invention, but the Mexican way.
The thing is, tire recycling is already big around the world — spent rubber mixed with asphalt produces pavement that offers a quiet ride and lasts very long. Nowadays, the same machines can build the new and the old styles of road. In Mexico, however, there are no pesos to spare to recycle tires or anything else. Importing machines worth millions of dollars? No sir, Mr. Benitez had to invent his own set. To make matters worse, Mexican law doesn't allow use of rubber in the construction of roads. Hence, the product has to be sent abroad, but that's also easier said than done — La Paz is 24 hours away from the U.S.; costs require that you wait until you have a full load… and that is 35 tonnes!
But Mr. Pozo and Mr. Benitez are pushing on. While the plant chews up all those millions of tires in La Paz, they expect regulations will start to loosen up. Mr. Benitez will concentrate on refining and replicating the model closer and closer to the U.S. border.
Given what I've learned about used tires in the past few weeks, I'm glad in our province we have the Tire Stewardship B.C. Thanks to their non-profit efforts, 32,000 tonnes of scrap tires are collected and recycled each year (check it out here: www.tirestewardshipbc.ca). What can you do at home? Always take your old tires to your local tire shop (you can be sure, I've checked) and they'll take them for free and bring them to a good end. And Johnny Delaney will approve – I bet!
