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Title: Scrap tire recycling in Minnesota

Journal Article · · BioCycle; (USA)
OSTI ID:6658158

The author discusses the problems associated with scrap tires. For example, surface storing of scrap tires poses a fire hazard and the rainwater trapped in the tire casings is an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes. Use as a fuel for energy production is unattractive as long as oil retails at its present low price. Past reclamation processes have not met expectations. Legislation alone is not the answer, because scrap tires cannot be regulated out of existence. However, the Minnesota state legislature has come up with an approach that seems to be successful. It has passed the Waste Tire Act, which not only formulates regulations but also provides funding for research and development. Thus, it has established a tire disposal fund for financing construction costs of tire recycling facilities. One of the outcomes was the construction of the St. Louis county Waste Tire Recycling Facility. Through a leasing arrangement with Minneapolis-based Rubber Elastomerics, Inc. (RRE), construction costs financed by the tire disposal fund eventually will be repaid by RRE to the fund. The arrangement is described in detail. By a process also described, RRE produces a product that can be used in thermoset and in thermoplastic compounds. The user can incorporate between 50 percent and 85 percent of the recycled product into a rubber or plastic compound without significantly affecting the physical properties of the compound.

OSTI ID:
6658158
Journal Information:
BioCycle; (USA), Vol. 30:10; ISSN 0276-5055
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English