Illegal tire disposal is a major source of pollution worldwide, especially in developing countries where they are more likely to be breeding grounds for insects or vermin. Even the legal disposal of untreated waste tires has proven to be an unsustainable solution: tires take up a huge amount of space in landfills.
Tire shredders offer a solution to the problem of disposal of used tires by reducing them to manageable sizes. Once machined, rubber pieces or chips can be used in many applications. In some cases, tire parts or chips are dumped in landfills, but treated used tires have been accepted because of their reuse potential.
Instead of contributing to landfill overfill, treated tires can be used to line landfills, isolate waste materials and prevent groundwater contamination. Tire tracks can also be further processed for use on playground and basketball court surfaces, asphalt and even new tires.
Like all other types of shredders, a tire shredder can be designed in many configurations. Large-scale, specialized tire shredding operations can benefit from a single large tire shredding system. Other processes may benefit from shredders that can fit on trailers for easy switching to different stocks of used tires. Either way, and in every case in between, a particular tire shredder can be designed to process tires in different ways. Tire shredders are designed to cut materials into uniform pieces for easier processing.
Many tire shredders are configured this way, especially when tires are intended to be treated as a new product. Because tire rubber goes through many remediation processes before it is put into use, many of these materials can be harvested for sale and reuse during tire reprocessing. Small amounts of steel, rubber and fibers can be harvested and sold for use in countless new applications.
There is some concern that reprocessed tires may still contribute to environmental degradation through contamination of groundwater when introduced as a surface or in other applications. The chemicals used in the vulcanization of rubber are believed to leach more easily from shredded tire rubber than from untreated rubber. Any tire disposal operation must take into account the potential negative environmental consequences when disposing of the tire.
