Recycling of Scrap Tires

As Rachel Louise Carson (1907-1964) successfully noted in her phrase “The human race is challenged more than ever before to demonstrate our mastery not over nature but of ourselves”, we are challenged to find ways to produce more energy, reduce our waste production while minimizing use of limited natural resources. Although recycling of materials has a history going back to the times of Plato BC400 and collecting scrap bronze & metals in Europe in pre-industrial times (Wikipedia, 2011), the demand roar for raw materials in the 19th and 20th centuries with industrial development caused cheaper alternative of reusing scrap material rather than mining them out. Interestingly, 21st century’s major driving force has additional items on top of the existing reasons of using recycled material, such as reducing consumption of limited natural resources and lowering carbon dioxide emissions against the greenhouse effect. The increasing demand for energy production and dealing with larger amounts of waste contaminating the nature, forces mankind to find innovative ways to deal with the produced pollutant waste, emit lesser amounts of CO2, and generate more energy. Recycling of scrap tires turns out to be a perfect match for the recent requirements of the 21st century. This chapter discusses various ways of recycling scrap tires and how they relate to the recent energy, material, and nature needs of our times.