The problem with recycling tires is the steel that's in them... as in the woven steel cords that make up the base of the tire under the treads... it is very expensive to separate the steel from the rubber, and it actually costs more than anything that can be made from the end products... it's simply cheaper to use new steel and rubber, because it costs the same to create a tire from either source, BUT there's less cost to get the new stuff as opposed to the cost of recovering the old stuff...
In other words, when someone makes a cheap way to recover the steel and rubber, then there will be a use for all those old tires... until then, no, there's nothing much that can be done with them, unless someone can figure out a way to burn them cleanly for energy (also VERY expensive)...
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Show all commentsThe problem with recycling tires is the steel that's in them... as in the woven steel cords that make up the base of the tire under the treads... it is very expensive to separate the steel from the rubber, and it actually costs more than anything that can be made from the end products... it's simply cheaper to use new steel and rubber, because it costs the same to create a tire from either source, BUT there's less cost to get the new stuff as opposed to the cost of recovering the old stuff...
In other words, when someone makes a cheap way to recover the steel and rubber, then there will be a use for all those old tires... until then, no, there's nothing much that can be done with them, unless someone can figure out a way to burn them cleanly for energy (also VERY expensive)...
Peace...