Rubber Tires essays

Rubber Tires essays Imagine waking up one morning, going outside to get the newspaper and taking in a refreshing breathe of air but instead, that air is filled with harmful pollutants that are being put off by a nearby pile of burning tires. Burning rubber tires is done in two ways. The most common is setting fire to millions of tires in a scrap pile. The other source of tire burning is done by cement kilns. Tires are used in these kilns because they burn at higher combustion temperatures and last longer as opposed to using coal. When tires are being burned, there are 2 types of pollutants that are released. The EPA refers to these as criteria pollutants that include carbon monoxide, nitrogen di-oxide, sulfur di-oxide, ozone and particulate matter. The other pollutants are called exotics, these include 189 hazardous air pollutants, the most harmful ones are benzene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, metals, dioxins, and furans. The criteria pollutants affect atmospheric pollution and aggravate respiratory problems. But it is in the exotics that you will find the carcinogens, teratogens and mutagens that cause birth defects and reproductive system damage. Dioxins are the most potent man-made carcinogen. Exposure to an extremely low level can cause a wide range of serious health effects such as; reproductive impairment, developmental injuries and increased risk of diabetes. The EPA conducts test burns to determine how many pollutants are given off when tires are burned. In a burn done at Kaiser cement kiln in California found a 603% increase in lead emissions, a 30% increase in dioxins, an 837% increase in hexavalent chromium and increases in nitrous oxides and particulate matter. Dr. Neil Carman states that there are tendencies to skew test data in favor of burning tires as showing no statistical difference to showing that tires burn cleaner than coal. When millions or tires are being burned it is a difficult t...