A new national study praises Iowa for its reduction of scrap tire stockpiles. Dan Zielinski , spokesman for the Rubber Manufacturers Association, says the number of scrap tires has been cut nationwide by 75-percent in the past 15 years, and many of those tires are going to factories for what’s known as T-D-F.That’s tire-derived fuel, which is most commonly used in cement kilns. Tires are burned at three-thousand degrees in what Zielinski says is an environmentally-sound and economically-sound alternative to other fossil fuels like coal. Iowa’s improving its scrap tire stockpiles, reducing the number by 750-thousand tires in the past two years. By comparison, Nebraska saw the number of stockpiled scrap tires -rise- last year alone by 800-thousand. Iowa’s also been shipping some of its scrap tires out of state — to Illinois — for T-D-F. Zielinski says a few Iowa companies shred old tires and find new uses for them.Ground rubber can be used in a variety of products, including playground surfaces, flooring, roofing material and athletic fields. He says Iowans can do something too to avoid contributing to the growing piles of tires by taking care of your vehicle’s tires. Check the air pressure and keep them properly inflated, keep them aligned, rotate them. He says the more care a consumer puts into keeping the tires safe and on their vehicles, the longer live they’ll get out of them. More information is available at “www.rma.org”.
