How Can Old Tires Change the Way We Make Asphalt?
When we look at an old, discarded tire we don’t think to ourselves that it might contribute to making a better roadway; but old tires may do just that. Currently most old tires are collected by tire retailers and recycled for a small fee. Once collected they are separated and then reduced. The larger pieces are used as stone aggregates or fuel to power kilns. But the small fine pieces are considered crumb rubber. Crumb rubber is used as a raw material for a wide variety of applications including molded rubber goods and adhesives.
Tires can also be recycled into a form of asphalt. Rubberized asphalt is an idea that kills two birds with one stone. Firstly, it is a great repurposing option for old tires, giving second life to rubber that would otherwise go to waste. And secondly, rubberized asphalt is a better product than traditional asphalt.
But what is rubberized asphalt? Rubberized asphalt is pavement material that is a mixture of regular asphalt concrete and crumb rubber. Because it bears so much similarity to traditional asphalt it can be used in many of the same applications. Rubberized asphalt can serve as surface treatment, hot mix and crack sealant. This new breed of asphalt also comes with a few perks over traditional asphalt.
- Rubberized asphalt has better grip, which translates to better handling on the road ways.
- Rubberized asphalt also offers less splash and spray.
- Rubberized asphalt reduces noise making the roadways quieter, a reduction of 5 decibels.
- Rubberized asphalt is more durable and lasts longer than traditional asphalt
Rubberizing asphalt also helps to delay oxidation and aging while preventing the surface from becoming brittle. It also covers better so less material is needed for roadways cutting down on material costs. In some cases 4 inches of traditional asphalt can be replaced by only 2 inches of rubberized. In the end a one mile section of four lane highway if paved with rubberized can contain between 2,000 and 8,000 tires. With the US turning out over 200 million discarded tires each year, there’s a constant supply of waste tires needing new homes.
Some states that have already begun to dip their toes into rubberized asphalt paving projects include Alaska, California, Florida, Texas, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Rhode Island and New Jersey. It will defiantly be interesting to see how the rubberized asphalt market evolves in the years to come.
related: more eco news from The Alternative Consumer
