An annual amount of 10 million waste tires are generated in Los Angeles County. That is a lot of waste tires. These tires are a tragic problem for the people and the city, and they’re bad for the environment as well.
Whether these waste tires in Los Angeles are dumped illegally and on purpose, or are just unknowingly stored improperly they still do considerable damage. They can affect public health and can cause urban blight and significant costs to residents. For example, improperly disposed of waste tires in Los Angeles can serve as a nest or breeding area for dangerous insects, like mosquitoes, and other beings. Another serious danger that waste tires in Los Angeles, and anywhere else in the country for that matter, present is their flammability. These tires can catch fire and release toxic fumes that are harmful to humans and animals to breath.
How can we solve the problem of waste tires in Los Angeles? To get rid of this problem and do our best to support the environment, we should properly recycle waste tires. Currently because we don’t have waste tire recycling processes in place, these harmful waste products are just getting thrown away and filling up landfills, or are being left around your neighborhoods. According to the Department of Public Works, though, the County of Los Angles is continually looking for new and innovative methods to productively use waste tires, eliminate their illegal dumping, conserve natural resources, and preserve landfill capacity. The objective of the County is to implement a variety of programs to address these issues.
Another thing that Los Angeles has done to stop this problem is create an active tire program that teach people about the waste tire problem in the area. This program also hosts waste tire collection events and demonstrates practical uses for tires that no longer work on vehicles to pose alternatives to getting rid of them. The Department of Public Works reports that the waste tire events are rotated to different County areas for residents to drop off tires for free. And if you, for some reason, cannot join the program yourself, there are places in Los Angeles that you can leave your used tires with that will recycle them for you.
The County of Los Angeles has partnered with CalRecycle in order to encourage the use of scrap tires in roadway rehabilitation projects and construction as well. These scrap tires go towards the creation of such things as rubberized asphalt concrete. Waste tires in Los Angeles that get turned into these products, believe it or not, actually have advantages and benefits over regular asphalt concrete. The County uses it in many of its street rehabilitation projects and if you live in the area, you probably have driven on rubberized asphalt concrete.
