An engineering professor at Iowa State University has won a 59-thousanddollar grant to study how to put scrap tires to good use on riversides.Professor Roy Gu (goo) says whole scrap tires can be placed along waterwaysfor erosion control and at the bottom of channels to prevent wash away. Thetires also can be used as habitats for fish.Used car, truck and tractor tires are banned from Iowa landfills and thereare millions of them piling up in storage facilities, waiting to be shreddedand used for something else. Gu is still working out the best way to attachthe tires to the riverbanks and to each other.Gu says the used tires promise to be a low-cost alternative to concrete orsteel structures.
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