Beneficial Use of Shredded Tires as Drainage Material in Cover Systems for Abandoned Landfills

Abstract

Over 280 million tires are discarded each year and over 4 billion tires are stockpiled at numerous locations in the United States. The stockpiled tires represent a public health hazard, an aesthetic nuisance, and waste of a valuable resource. Recently, attention has been given to the use of scrap tires for civil engineering applications such as highway embankments, retaining structures, and lightweight fill material. This paper presents the results of a research study performed to assess the feasibility of using shredded scrap tires as a drainage material in cover systems for abandoned landfills. The research study included extensive laboratory testing and field demonstration at an abandoned landfill in Carlinville, Ill. Laboratory testing was conducted using tire shreds to determine the following: ͑1͒ potential for clogging when used in the cover systems; ͑2͒ long-term transmissivity when used in cover systems; and ͑3͒ interface shear strengths with various other cover materials. Slope stability analyses were performed to determine the stability of final covers incorporating shredded tires as drainage layers. A field demonstration was performed to determine the constructability and assess the performance of tire shreds as a drainage material in the landfill final cover as compared to that of a conventional drainage layer consisting of sand. Overall, the results showed that shredded tires possess the required characteristics and perform well as drainage material. Using shredded tires as a drainage material is a practical solution to scrap tire disposal problems and also for constructing cost-effective final covers for abandoned landfills.

Recycled Tire Chips Mixed with Sand as Lightweight Backfill Material in Retaining Wall Applications: An Experimental Investigation

“…Various researchers have carried out investigations on the usage of scrap tire derived materials in civil engineering applications like recycled tire chips as a fill material in road/ embankment construction [6][7][8], lightweight fill material in retaining wall backfill under static loading conditions [2][3][4][5], and waste tire shreds as a leachate collection layer [9,10]. Several researchers [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] have evaluated the engineering properties of the scrap tire chips and sand tire chip mixtures by conducting permeability, compressibility, large direct shear tests, and triaxial tests on the samples. The permeability and shear strength of the sand tire chip mixtures are higher than that of sand alone [18] and the unit weight of the tire chips is less than one third of that of sand [3] making them fit for light weight fill material.…”

Performance Assessment of Gravel–Tire Chips Mixes as Drainage Layer Materials Using Real Active MSW Landfill Leachate

“…About 4-5 metric tons of used tires are discarded each year in Jalandhar, Punjab, India (Sethi et al 2013;Kaushik et al 2012). Disposal of the whole tire in landfills or at dump sites may cause an aesthetic nuisance, contamination of the ground, a possible public health hazard, and above all is a wastage of very good resource material (Reddy et al 2010). Waste tire disposal problems may be easily solved by finding alternative methods for reuse of the waste tires in different civil/geotechnical engineering applications.…”

“…In the first experimental sequence, gravel and tire chips were used alone. All tire chips samples were initially characterized by random selection as per the procedure prescribed by Reddy et al (2010). According to Kaushik et al (2012) study tire chips of length 22-28 mm size (aspect ratio 1) demonstrated minimum compressibility and maximum hydraulic conductivity hence, relatively ''free drainage'' even under high overburden pressure levels.…”

Membrane Processes for Greywater and Rainwater Treatment

“…Figure 13.1 is a schematic diagram of a typical MCR. Rivero et al (2006) studied MCR for GW treatment under different air velocities, TiO 2 concentrations and permeate fluxes; COD, BOD and turbidity were decreased to 56-98 mg/L (reduction of 67-83%), 2-17 mg/L (87-98%), and 0.35-3.57 NTU (77-98%), respectively. Under the optimal combination of experimental conditions, values of such parameters were 86 mg/L, 9 mg/L, and 0.35 NTU, suggesting that the permeate was reusable.…”