Spanish law adopts bitumen with rubber
It costs twice as much, but it resists
Modified bitumen made from recycled rubber costs approximately twice as much as conventional bitumen, but this does not result in an increase in the cost of the work, the recycling companies claim. All told, construction costs are similar, given the high resistance of that bitumen to crack propagation. In this way it is possible to reduce the costs of maintaining the floor. In addition, the thickness used in mixtures with recycled rubber is up to half that used in conventional mixtures. The first successful experience of incorporating tire waste into asphalt was carried out in the United States by Charles MacDonald, a former employee of the Federal Roads Office and Materials Testing supervisor for the city of Phoenix, Arizona. That is why it is called ‘MacDonald process’ or ‘Phoenix process’. On about 70 percent of roads in the US state of Arizona, modified bitumen is made from recycled rubber.
Deflected for Burning
A significant amount of tires collected in Portugal – 22.9 percent – is sent for burning or energy recovery, practiced at Secil de Maceira, in Leiria. Secil do Outão, in Setúbal, also applied for a license to co-incinerate the ‘chips’ (non-recyclable fraction) of the tires. However, after some inquiries, the Environmental Monitoring Committee of that unit concluded that the ‘chips’ were, after all, crushed tires, that is, raw material for the recycling industries. Neither Valorpneu nor the Waste Institute has yet clarified how it was possible that more than four thousand tons of ‘chips’ and tire pellets were sent from a recycling unit to Secil do Outão. The non-recyclable fraction – essentially composed of textile, with some rubber, and steel wires – represents about 25 percent of the total weight of the tire. The appropriate destination will be landfill or incineration with energy recovery.
Consumption of superfluous and disposables
Quercus wants less consumption of superfluous and disposables to reduce the ecological footprint. Quercus advised the Portuguese to reduce the use of superfluous and disposable products and energy, remembering that, if everyone had the average consumption of the...
Rubber granules
Rubber granules from used tires give rise to synthetic lawns and other pavements. The amount of used tires collected stabilized in 2016, at 83.5 thousand tons, just over half destined for recycling, for rubber granules, transformed into synthetic turf or pavement,...
Recycling guarantees more than 100 million euros of GDP
Recycling guarantees more than 100 million euros of GDP. A study commissioned by Sociedade Ponto Verde concludes that recycling avoids 116 thousand tons of CO2 and multiplies investments in the economy. For every euro of added value created by the activity, an...