Stockpiling – a recipe for disaster
Before Alberta’s tire recycling program was launched in 1992, millions of scrap tires were piled high in yards across the province, waiting until some future use could be found. Letting scrap tire accumulate however, was an extremely dangerous practice.
The most obvious, and potentially devastating hazard, is the threat of fire. Large piles of tires are extremely hard to put out and can sometimes take months to burn out completely.
Tire fires produce heavy smoke and toxic liquid run-off that can contaminate local groundwater and surface water. And if water or fire retardant foam is used to try to extinguish the blaze, air, water and soil pollution can become even more severe. For this reason, some fires were left to burn out on their own time.
But a successful tire recycling industry in Alberta has made sure stockpiles are no longer an eyesore on the landscape or a threat to the environment.
Landfilling -- Why burying the problem is not an option
Before tire recycling was put in motion in Alberta, another common way Albertans dealt with their scrap tires was to simply bury them in the landfill. However, this often led to many other problems. Along with taking up valuable landfill space, tires buried in the landfill often make their way back to the surface, where they hold rain water and become a rubber mixing pot for all kinds of disease – and home to disease carrying vermin and insects.
Even those tires dumped in sanitary landfills created environmental problems. Again, these landfilled tires often worked their way back to the surface, damaging the landfill liners and liquid collection systems that keep landfill contaminants from mixing local groundwater and surface water.
The bottom line on discarding tires in the landfill is that it is costly to the environment and the pocketbook. From April 1, 2006 – March 31, 2007, Albertans recycled 4.3 million tires, freeing up more than 540,000 cubic meters of landfill space and saving $20 million in landfill costs.
Scrap tires can lead to a deadly bite
Tires dumped illegally, or left to stand on private lands are not only an eyesore, they are also a public heath threat. Scrap tires provide a sheltered place where standing water can accumulate. Protected from the elements, the trapped, insulated water is the perfect place for mosquitoes to lay their eggs. A single tire can be the source of thousands of mosquitoes over the course of a summer.
While the pinch and itch of mosquito bites used to be nothing more than a nuisance for most Albertans, Mosquito-borne diseases such as West Nile have become a cause for great concern.
West Nile Virus can lead to encephalitis or meningitis – a severe infection that leaves those infected with a high fever, severe headaches, neck stiffness, nausea and vomiting, confusion, muscle weakness or paralysis, seizures, coma and even death.
While the fact remains, most people bitten by an infected mosquito show no signs of disease at all, the stakes are very high and risk remains too great to leave tires lying around.
There are about 200 species of mosquito in the United States and Canada; 43 of them can carry the West Nile Virus. For more information visit Alberta Health's West Nile Virus website.