There are too many tires
The invention of the wheel gave a strong boost to development. Now it is becoming obvious that the pneumatic tire is at the final stage of its existence, as all major manufacturers are focusing on airless wheels. Nevertheless, today this is our reality, and the problem with pneumatic tires is that they are not very durable and require significant costs for disposal.
Interestingly, how many tires are there in the world today? If we do not take into account freight transport, special vehicles, and two-wheeled vehicles, then according to the latest data, there are approximately 1.446 billion cars in the world. Given that a car has 4 wheels, we get a total of approximately 5.784 billion car tires, which will eventually become unusable. At the same time, it is very difficult to understand how many tires are already waiting for their turn to be disposed of.
Tire fires at landfills often turn into a real environmental disaster.
Fire in Rhinehart, Virginia, 1983
In 1983, in the city of Rhinehart, Virginia, 7 million tires caught fire on a landfill, which led to a massive and stubborn fire that lasted for nine months. The ignition of tires was not just a local problem, but an environmental disaster with far-reaching consequences.
The scale of the fire led to the appearance of a column of black smoke, which rose into the air by 1 km, spreading air pollution across three neighboring states and affecting areas up to 80 km downwind. In addition to the direct visual impact, the fire had a more sinister and prolonged effect: pollution of nearby water sources. Hazardous compounds, such as lead and arsenic, released from burning tires, seep into the water, creating a serious threat to the health of the local ecosystem and residents.
Fires in Kuwait in 2021 and 2023.
Over the past 30 years, about 50 million tires have been imported to Kuwait from India, Pakistan, Malaysia, and other countries. The tires are disposed of by burial in the Kuwaiti desert. In 2012, a fire broke out at the largest landfill in Sulaibiya, 7 kilometers from the capital of Kuwait, and about 5 million tires burned. For a number of reasons, the fire could not be extinguished for more than a month. The fire repeated in 2023. It is obvious that disposing of tires by simply storing them is not the best idea. This becomes especially obvious after fires at such landfills cannot be extinguished for months. The damage to the environment is also immeasurable.
