Car wheel recycling

1999/01/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ingurumena

Old car tires have no other use or recycling system. Therefore, solving car wheels that accumulate more and more is a real problem in most industrialized countries. So far the only solution has been to reserve the wheels in tanks and wait for the rubber to rot naturally, but this can last up to 100 years and also the environment can be totally damaged by the fire of the tank.

A 9-month US fire recently occurred in one of these tanks and the environment was heavily affected by combustion gases and oils. With the aim of solving this problem, a pilot project of Ecological Reuse of Used Tires has been launched in the municipality of Villarrobledo, in Albacete, with the help of the European Commission. The objective of this project is to distribute these waste in its basic components and obtain raw materials for the industry.

This way you can get rubber, fabrics and steel from the wheels and use it for all kinds of products. Among others, handles for knives, acoustic screens for roads and furniture for the home. Project managers have contacted environmental companies to drive these products. With the implementation of the system will be the first wheel recycling plant in Europe.