Have you ever wondered what happens to your old used car tires once they are replaced? Well up until about 20 years ago, most used tires sat in landfills and would have sat there indefinitely since tires can take centuries to decompose. Not only was this a waste of landfill space and resources, it was also a significant environmental problem since fires could occur in the land fills and cause untold environmental damage. In order to solve this problem, a rubber tire recycling industry slowly began to grow. This industry has lowered the tire quantity in landfills from almost a billion tires in the early 1990’s to less than 250 million tires today. Not only has this significantly helped the environment, it has also brought about new industries and products.

The new industries include recycling plants, rubber flooring and mat manufacturers, and retailers. The new products include, rolled rubber flooring and interlocking tiles that’s used for weight rooms and home gyms, rubber mulch, crumb rubber used as infill in artificial turf fields, rubber pad used in synthetic athletic surfaces, and even as friction mats used in the transportation industry. Some of the roads we now drive on use it in a product called rubberized asphalt concrete (RAC). RAC was created to help concrete roads last longer by allowing the road to expand and contract easier in changing temperatures. The last major use for recycled rubber tires is as a fuel derivative.

Article Source: http://www.articleset.com