How Do You Recycle Scrap Tires?

Just like human beings, tires to have a limited lifespan. Therefore, when they become old, they tend to wear out and become irreparable. The damages caused to the tires are irreversible, and with constant usage of the tires, they often get filled with rubbish, debris, and dirt. Using the same old tires causes environmental hazards, affecting the lives of both animals and plants. Given that we have to take a stand for the benefit of the environment, recycling 80%- scrap tires has emerged as a great option. It also aids in reusing the tires without any wastage, even when they can no longer support a vehicle. Therefore, in this blog, you will be reading about the different ways or steps in which you can easily recycle scrap tires.

Collecting the waste tires

The collection of scrap tires is the first step in the recycling process. In this stage, individuals, factories, and business houses dealing in the tire recycling process reach out to areas where scrap tires can be gathered. 

Ragpickers are also paid to acquire the scrap tires, contact a particular person, and hand them over. Once a good amount of scrap tires is accumulated, the next step begins.

Tire shredding

The second step in tire recycling involves the processing of shredding the accumulated 80% – scrap tires. These tires are put through a processing plant. They are shredded or cut into diminutive pieces to prevent any big chunks of the tires from remaining unprocessed. It reduces the size of the tires into a material that can be easily handled.

 By using tire shredders, scrap tires are cut in the rotating shafts. Eventually, as you proceed, the tires begin to pile up, and at the end of this stage, some raw materials are derived that can be used as fuel. At times, the scrap tires are shredded into such small and delicate pieces that they almost look like rubber granules which are later on used for purposes like rubber flooring.

Steel liberation 

In stage three, the rubber fibres are separated from other residual elements like wires, papers, etc. Steel wires are quite commonly found in scrap tires because they provide the required resilience and strength to the tires so that they are in good shape. Through this process, these steel wires get removed and recycled so that they do not cause any hindrances in the previous steps of tire recycling. After accumulating a vast quantity of steel, it can be further used to manufacture new wheels or tires. Out of this process comes out something good, i.e. rubber mulch. The leftover rubber, after stage three, is reused as field turf on playgrounds.

Screening 

When you reach the fourth stage, you must carefully observe the shredded rubber to check whether any steel wires have remained behind in bulk. Screening of large volumes of rubber is made, along with separation of the sizes of the rubber to ensure that there are no wires left. This stage also involves the elimination of any unwanted substances and reducing and sorting the sizes of the giant rubber particles.

Cleaning 

This is the penultimate stage where you need to clean the rubber shreds acquired from 80% – scrap tires. Water and cleaning agents are used to clean the screened rubber thoroughly. This process washes away all the dust and dirt from the shredded rubber and leaves behind clean rubber.

Packaging and transporting 

After the rubber is washed thoroughly, it is left to dry in the open. It is then packed up for delivery to different vendors and sellers who purchase recycled scrap tires as raw materials for several industrial and domestic purposes when it has dried up. Rubber shoes and playground turfs are classic examples of the results of recycled tires. 

These everyday steps are used to recycle and then repurpose 80% – scrap tires with multiple uses. Therefore, do make your contribution today and resource the scrap and unused tires to a unit where these will be recycled to something valuable and purposeful without littering the environment. 

At Metplast, we are committed to repurposing scrap tires into rubber granules which are later used for creating rubber mats and floors. Our products have proven results like saving a child from significant injury by falling on the playground, hitting the head against the floor, etc. You must contact our resource person for more and derive all the product-related details.